Double Trouble
by UnorthodoxFog
Summary: Following Shrek's survival of Rumpel's alternative universe, said deal-maker makes an escape from the cage he was locked in, plotting to avenge his defeat. Prince Charming, ever since he failed to take over the throne of Far-Far away, has been left unhinged due to Shrek. When these two sadistic beings meet and 'team' up, will they both, as a unit, avenge each other by ending Shrek?
1. Charming's ultimate fate

**CHAPTER 1: Charming's fate revealed (FLASHBACK TO THE EVENTS OF SHREK 3)**

Charming was struggling holding onto the sword as Shrek was utilising his magnificent orge strength to toss him around the stage on the spot, practically swinging Charming around like a game of roll the bottle. Their surroundings gave the entire confrontation an extra pressure in which it was mounted upon Charming especially, considering that all of his former-partners had turned on him after Artie's remarkable speech just now.

After a RAPID swing around, Charming gained his feet, and suddenly, aiming the chained sword right to Shrek, he charged forwards as Shrek's eyes were following the rapidly approaching sword before it collided, causing shock, gasps and a combination of breath-intaking which made for a huge echo not only from the audience watching the play, but from all the fairy-tale creatures.

"HAH!" Charming yelled, smiling with his gritting teeth towards Shrek as the orge collapsed to his knees.

Shrek's eyes were crunched into a closed stance as he was seemingly feeling the pain inflict itself upon his insides from the sword stabbing him. After admiring what he had did to the orge he's wanted to kill since he stopped his way to the throne initially, Charming took forwards to the stage in a rather egotistical manner to an audience with an extremely upset and mixed reaction towards their supposed 'king's' actions.

"A NEW ERA, FINALLY BEGINS!" Charming yelled, raising his head upwards, feeling confident in his words, not showing a single amount of guilt or remorse from supposedly stabbing Shrek.

That's where his trouble had came, because as he was distracted with addressing the big audience in front of the big stage packed with Dragon, Puss, Donkey, and all the other fairy tale creatures, Shrek slyly looked up from the ground, with the corner of his eyes aiming directly towards his wife, and as soon as that smile had broken open from his big green face, it was made clear to Fiona that it was all a gig, as a way to distract Charming. Artie had breathed a ton of relief next to Fiona, and as Shrek was now gaining his balance again, the two of them stepped back to allow the big orge to finish off Charming once and for all. The massive crowd surrounding Shrek suddenly emitted into one gigantic mumble as it became clear to their fairy-tale eyes that Shrek wasn't actually imploded with the steel sword after all.

"NOW, ALL OF YOU...BOW BEFORE YOUR KING!" Charming yelled confidently, smashing his pointing finger to dangle downwards to the direction of the stage he's standing on briefly, inserting his minimal dominance.

As the figure of Shrek was approaching from behind, much to the audience's delight, and much to the unawareness of Charming, Shrek deliberately made a clearing-throat sound as a way to catch Charming off guard; once his red-leotard covered body turned around to a Shrek who, after all, didn't get stabbed, Charming's face suddenly went from smiley and confident to worried and uncertain.

"Ya need to work on ya aim.." Shrek said, unveiling the sword from his armpit with a smile, as Charming rapidly looked to his left and right worryingly, shocked at the orge's luckiness.

This generated quite a few laughs from the crowd and the audience, as if they were saying 'oh, you're done for, Charming' and this couldn't be anymore truer, because Shrek had suddenly pelted his gigantic green fingers right onto Charming's leotard to raise him up off of the stage, looking up at him.

"THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MY HAPPILY EVER AFTER!" Charming yelled, slightly raising an eyebrow after his sentence, wondering what Shrek's about to do to him.

"Oh, well I guess you need to keep looking..." Shrek emitted, slowly twirling his pupils over to the corner, with Fiona standing in the background of a raised up Charming, as she stood besides Puss and Donkey, who were yet to be switched back to their actual bodies. Shrek let off a smile at Fiona, before looking back at Charming within his grasp.

"Coz I'm not giving up mine..."

And with that, Shrek twirled around on the spot, and sent Charming skipping backwards and sliding slightly nearer towards the tower in which the actor playing the princess he's rescuing was supposed to be before her wig came loose when the gang arrived to save Shrek. Charming took a few heavy gulps of air, with his back completely facing the large tower, with Dragon next to it. Upon looking at Charming whilst situated next to the tower, she moved her tail to the behind of the tower, and slightly nudged it for it to loosen it's balance and fall downwards to Charming. Upon doing this, she started smiling with her menacing teeth showing, and Charming, hearing some sort of collapsing structure...turned behind himself slightly, before looking up at a charging tower, just waiting to crush his body.

"Mummy?" Charming said, seeing death just two seconds away.

The tower's thunderous collision with the stage ultimately ate up what was left of Charming's body, as the villainous 'king' was lucky to have just BARELY avoided getting crushed into pieces by his body moving through the window hole of the tower, causing him to avoid death, and instead, stuck inside the collapsed tower. His crown had slid off of his head, and it had rolled all the way outwards from here just before the tower fully made it's collision, which gave Artie the opportunity to finally submit his place as new King of Far Far Away. Charming looked around himself in the dark atmosphere, as he could hear cheers outside and chants of 'ARTIE, ARTIE', holding onto his chest in a firm manner. He was surrounded in complete darkness, before seeing a few cracked up holes towards the end of the structure, and with that, Charming scrambled his way through the collapsed structure of the tower to stealthily get his way out of here, hoping that everyone outside thinks that it's actually crushed him. His game was over for now, but after what just happened, and with Shrek once again defeating him, Charming was far from done. He had no idea how he'd recover from this point though, considering that the fairy-tale villains had turned to 'good guys' following Artie's speech.

The coldness of the stone structure caused Charming to shiver, but this coldness was decreasing, as he could finally see the light of the dark night sky of far far away at the end of the tower.

"They think it's over...they'll fall...to...MY...FEET!" Charming said, before suddenly closing his mouth with his two hands, forgetting that everyone outside could potentially hear him.

Charming had actually survived, but now, another brutal being in the form of Rumpelstiltskin had ultimately got closer than Charming did to killing Shrek, yet he was still captured and defeated. He too was bloodthirsty with revenge, for Shrek not only ruining his business and taking away his chance to take over far far away via a magical contract, but now, because he had actually survived at the LAST SECOND before he was meant to disappear. Rumpel's hopes were ruined, and now, his one target is an obnoxious, disgusting orge. To say that Rumpel won't be following the path of Charming would be far from the truth.


	2. Rumpelstiltskin's checkup

**CHAPTER 2: Rumpelstiltskin's checkup**

It felt strange; Rumpel was in a dangling little cage, like a bird pet, watching Shrek and his family when they took to leaving the swamp, or going back inside. At night, no mercy was shown for the little deal-maker; because of what he nearly did to Shrek, there's no way in hell that Shrek would ever consider Rumpel a guy to sympathise. He blatantly admitted that his kids didn't exist in that alternative universe, and he was a sadistic when it came to wanting Shrek's life to end. If there's a thing he's good at aside from his previous-deal-making life, it's that he's able to conceal his true intentions with his body language, his facial expressions and his voice, coming across as the opposite of the tone of his intentions. He did this perfectly when Shrek was in his carriage whilst Fifi was running, attached to the carriage, when Rumpel had ultimately got Shrek to sign the contract.

But amongst all of this, vengeance had fueled his body. As he did nothing but sit in the cage, all he could think about was escaping the coldness of the cage in order to build his credibility back up, and to essentially finish what he had started. But now with no magical contracts, and his tiny, miniature size in comparison to Shrek, it'll be impossible to accomplish it. Technically, Rumpel was always a sadistic even before the events that Shrek had to go through with Farquaad; before Fiona's parents were informed that she was saved from the tower, they came extremely close to signing a contract with Rumpel, where he insisted that if they had signed the kingdom of Far Far Away over to his hands, then he'd end Fiona's curse. The reason why this solidifies his status as the longest-living sadistic out of himself, Farquaad, Prince Charming and the Fairy Godmother is because in actual fact, if they had signed the contract, they would of disappeared from reality, meaning that Rumpel had lied to them, and it would of costed them their entire lives if he had succeeded in his lies. He was willing to get rid of the parents of somebody locked in a tower, with no remorse, and on top of that, he would of allowed Fiona to remain locked in it, with a curse, just for the sake of being power-hungry of Far Far Away. If what he did to Shrek was anything to go by, he basically sent a confirmation that he's truly the most evil one out of the four villains.

It was a cold night, and dangling in the cage, just scratching the metal outlines of it was Rumpel himself; he was humming to himself as the swamp was exposing it's green, peculiar and scent into him. Shrek and his family, whenever they had walked past the cage, payed no acknowledgment to him, and in return, he ignored Shrek's presence especially, as he did for his kids and Fiona and Shrek's other friends. The best source of food that he had gotten on the occasional moment was a small piece of cooked rat, but even that wasn't enough to sustain his body. In the end, Rumpel had learnt to just focus his time on imagining how he could do his resurrection and give Shrek a piece of revenge, but the idea of escaping the cage itself had got in the way of those thoughts.

Rumpel suddenly felt an urge of escaping; no longer could he bare watching the horrific and disgusting presence of orges from an isolated and trapped position. He stood up in the cage, and studied it from the bottom and upwards. The cage's bars were structured in a manner where the top had small gaps inbetween the metal lines, but towards the bottom, there was a huge gap between the second metal line and the bottom of the cage, which could potentially be enough for Rumpel to fit through. Rumpel was scratching his chin as his sly little eyes were visioning and examining the metal carefully, as he was finally plotting his escape whilst it was night, and Shrek and his family were asleep.

"Must...escape..." Rumpelstiltskin whispered in his breath, holding onto the cold and hard bars of the cage as it was dangling over a stuck-out root from Shrek's house.

He had an idea; not only was his small size beneficial to him for this type of plan, but if he could somehow make himself more greased up, then he could easily get his way out of the cage in a second. Suddenly, Rumpel gripped upon the hard metal in a tight, firm manner; in which he directed his head directly towards it. Then, he pelted out spit from his mouth right onto the metal; it didn't matter to him how peculiar his method was as long as he could escape. After pelting tons of collections of spit from his mouth onto the cage, Rumpel wiped the spit further into the metal to give a slippery surface, in which he would be able to fit through it.

He ducked down in the cage, and moved his head so he was facing the left. He pelted his head through the metal, and, despite receiving a painful collision with his nose, he was able to successfully pelt it through with ease. As he got his head through to the outside from the cage, his body was now stuck, however. It felt like he was being strangled by somebody who had armour as palms. He was starting to struggle, and he planted his hands against the bars in order to try and bust himself through the slippery metal.

"EURGHH, COME ON, GET THROUGH!" Rumpel yelled to himself, visibly getting hot and red from the amount of painful pressure he's enduring by trying to get through the lower part of the steel cage.

His pesky little voice got through to the top floor of Shrek's swamp house, and ultimately, because he and Fiona sleep right in front of a window, Shrek had heard Rumpel's voice echo through it. Shrek opened his eyes, reluctantly, after being interrupted by a deep sleep, slowly turning to see if it was Fiona that made the noise. Baring in mind that he was half-asleep before Rumpel had yelled it, which was why he couldn't instantly tell the distinguished voices apart. Shrek removed the covers off of his part of the bed, before sitting up on the side.

"If it's him, I'm gonna plonk him down" Shrek said to himself quietly, referring to Rumpel, concluding that it was most likely him.

Of course, the aggression that Shrek has just implied through his minor sentence would be worrying, but again, this was against Rumpelstiltskin, who nearly killed him, so it was 100% justified against the guy who nearly took the orge's family away for good. Shrek fully stood up, exposed within his bed-shorts, walking over towards the steps down. Shrek's gigantic orge feet has caused for the footsteps to be heard loud and clear from the outside, and as a result, Rumpel's ears had picked up on them.

Rumpelstilskin's heart felt like it was imploded by a needle, the second he heard footsteps emerging from within the swamp house. He knew that it was probably Shrek, and if Shrek sees him, chances are, his attempts of an escape will instantly be drowned down. This only caused Rumpel's speed to increase, because as the footsteps were emerging within a lower altitude from the volume, the pressure was on within Rumpel to just slide out as quickly as possible before Shrek opens the front wooden door. Rapidly, Rumpel was pushing himself back and fourth as his neck was in between the metal bars within the slippery part of the cage from his spit.

"EH, EHH, EHHHHHH!" he struggled, before he suddenly made a miracle happen.

Despite his little clothes, Rumpel's entire body had suddenly slid through the bottom part of the metal in the cage, but it came at a cost; as soon as he slipped through, his body was briefly in the air as he suddenly felt a touch of mud bring itself onto his tongue as soon as he collided with the ground. Rumpel sat up, holding onto his chest, rubbing his hair, before sticking his tongue out. There, he was making disgusted noises as he was rushing his palms against his tongue, coughing up and spitting out the mud. As he was on his knees on the ground doing this, the wooden door had opened from the noise, and instantly, Rumpel scrambled away from the house with his tiny little feet towards the trees of the swamp, There, the smell of dampness could be scented through his nose, given the nature of the swamp. He ducked down behind a tree trunk as he slightly revealed his head from it, to see if Shrek had noticed him.

Shrek didn't end up stepping outside entirely due to him being in just his bed-shorts, but he couldn't instantly see anything of a distraction. He shrugged, before emitting his tone down to a quiet one as to not wake up Fergus, Farkle or Felicia; his three orge kids. He slowly shut the door, not checking on the cage, since he had initially thought, from the sound of the yelling, that Rumpel had escaped, but he saw nothing, so clearly, he was still in his cage from Shrek's point of view.

"Darstly little birds..." Shrek whispered, concluding that it was probably the chirps of the birds that had caused him to hear things.

Upon hearing the door shut as the moon was shining amongst a million stars in the dark sky above the swamp, Rumpel stood up straight, rubbing his palms together with his tongue stuck out. His teeth were gritted together as he suddenly had the devil's look upon his expression like he did when he looked at Shrek in the alternative universe after saying 'Fiona isn't all orge, is she?'

His plan was just beginning; his road to revenge against Shrek was underway, but he clearly needed assistance for this. Rumpelstiltskin then took off away from the vicinity of Shrek's house, briefly looking at the outhouse Shrek uses on the other side of the wooden two storied hut before turning to the opposite direction to get out of here.


	3. Kidnapped

**CHAPTER 3: Kidnapped**

Rumpel was just walking through the swamp in the hopes of making a breakthrough for some sort of field; not only was the swamp a heavily unwanted place to be walking in, but when it's the night time and your nose is filled with the scent of a seaweed-like smell, it only added onto that thought. He was walking past various ponds that had frogs within them, and then some of them were decorated with lily pads. Amongst those lily pads were long, grown grass that had emerged from below the water, and there was a green-dusty combination in the water itself. As Rumpel was walking past these particular ponds, he couldn't help but spout his tongue out with a disgusted emitting sound.

As the ponds were disappearing from his eyes, however, meaning that he's now technically starting to get to the less-deeper parts of the swamp, Rumpel looked up at the dark, cold sky with the moon. He was ascending his eye vision up there with the intent of thinking about how he can plan his comeback.

"How dare he...how dare he blatantly knock down my business and lock me up...they're all...mere, vile creatures..."

The fact that his business has been killed off thanks to Shrek, and his failure to succeed in gaining permanent power over Far-Far away, has not only damaged his credibility, it's also damaged his reputation. In fact, Shrek had ruined his business the moment he had rescued Fiona when her parents were informed about her recovery when they were a small second from signing the contract.

"Ruining me?! imprisoning me?! ARGHH!" he crunched his fingers together as his eyes were emitting a look of anger. He was shaking his crunched up fists before suddenly smashing them both rapidly together back and fourth, unleashing the anger he's obtained from his failure. "I WANT HIM GONE! I WANT HIM GONE! I WANT HIM GONEEEEE!"

Now of course, Rumpel's ruthless, uncaring yelling that he consistently does puts him at the risk of being exposed; and this couldn't be more truer at this moment. Following Charming's heavy defeat, the former 'king' went on to build a force of anti-Far-Far away beings; those who shared the same views as him not just politically, but mentally. They all wanted Artie gone, but Charming wasn't focused specifically on Artie; he was focused on building up his own army, full of knights and those willing to get his intentions through. They did anything if it meant protecting Charming; and because of the growth of his force, Charming had, not being aware of this, evacuated to a part of the land where he was actually near Shrek's swamp, in order to build his base. His base is set two hours away from there, and he considers himself to be the ruler of the land that Rumpel is walking in at the moment. Whilst this isn't actually true, Charming's power gives him the authority to claim it. Ultimately, with Charming on the rise with a dangerous force, his goal was this; to DESTROY far-far away and create his own gigantic kingdom where he'll be the supreme dictator of his future citizens. His 'sub' goal was to also track down Shrek, and to kill him once and for all, but he hasn't been successful in tracking the orge for a full year since that tower came crashing down around his red-leotard body at the time. Now, though, he's closer than ever to achieving that. That orge left him awake at night, recalling the significant amount of humiliation he had suffered from his defeat from the hands of a rotten orge. At times, he would simply stare at his wooden desk with his elbows on his forehead, just visioning what it would be like to meet Shrek again, and to give that orge the death that Charming feels is deserving.

Because of this, Charming had sent patrol knights to guard the land nearby, in order to make it clear to those that he's now in power. Charming made sure that the patrol knights were only out during the night time. In this case, Rumpel's yelling had exposed his position, and because the knight heard his voice, he was now inevitably about to be captured by one of Charming's servants. All prisoners were brought to Charming himself. His patrol knights weren't necessarily tasked with finding Shrek, because Charming would rather have Shrek walk into his path without the orge knowing that it's him, which would enable him a better chance of executing the orge.

There wasn't anything Rumpelstiltskin could do to conceal himself from a nearby knight who was riding a horse with armour, but his yelling just now had caused his presence to be known to the knight at a greater extent. As the hooves of the horse were colliding back and fourth against the swamp ground, making for a huge collection of significant bangs, the knight had overheard the voice in the distance, and, holding a sword in his one hand, he had directed his horse to run in the direction that he had heard it; he was one of Charming's patrol knights. He was patrolling for any intruders, but intruders of what specifically has yet to be determined.

The knights armour shined a glimpse of deadliness, and it was all the more intimidating to think that, beyond that steel helmet, there was a very small space which allowed his eyes to see whoever was near him, whilst his expressions were completely cut off from the person he's after. He was like a phantom; you can't see his face, but knowing that beyond the steel laid an actual person with feelings and emotions whilst you can't even see it from the outside, it was extremely dangerous.

Rumpel's ears picked up on the hooves, and, upon hearing the horse emit a large amount of breath, as well as it emitting it's typical noise in a panicky state, it caused Rumpel to charge off as fast as he could to try and escape whoever was coming after him. To Rumpel, it was probably Shrek.

"AHH, WHAT NOW?!" Rumpel yelled, as his feet were unleashing a rapid pace in the midst of him trying to outrun the knight on a horse, who was catching up to the little deal maker.

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" The knight yelled, as his brown, armoured up-horse finally came into vision from behind Rumpel, and upon seeing the little guy's running body, the pace increased significantly. His voice was deep, and he sounded like a commander from the military.

"WOAH, HANG ON, I CAN MAKE YOU A DEAL!"

It was too late, for when the horse had finally caught up to Rumpel, the knight on top of it had directed her to stop directly in front of Rumpel, as they were still within the rather-foggy and green misty parts of the swamp. Once Rumpel was surrounded by the horse and the knight in front of him, he raised his tiny little hands up in order to try and start a truce between this tall, concealed-within-steel knight. The knight had slowly retracted his helmet up and off from his face, to unveil a bearded, yet-initiative looking person, who was clearly in this for somebody he's serving.

"THESE LANDS ARE THE PROPERTY OF HIS MAJESTY HIMSELF, WHAT RIGHT DO YOU SERVE TRESPASSING ON THEM?!" the knight said, looking at Rumpel, standing in front of the horse.

"LANDS OF WHO? WHAT? HUH?!"

"SILENCE! AT ONCE! "

"I...I JUST ESCAPED AN ORGE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD?!"

"SILENCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" The knight yelled, slamming his sword directly against the ground to get his point across.

Rumpel's mouth was shaking, as was his entire little body; usually, he's the one who's in the position of power that this knight has established, but to actually be the victim of somebody, he's never actually experienced that before, so to experience it now was not only a strange experience for him, it was also much more intimidating than he had expected.

"LISTEN, I UH, I CAN MAKE YOU A DEAL? IF YOU LET ME GO, WE CAN MAKE A DEAL WHERE YOU CAN HAVE ANYTHING YOU WANT?!"

"A deal, you say?" the knight curiously said, crossing his arms, keeping the sword within his grasp. He was slowly wandering his way over to Rumpel.

The knight was starting to circle Rumpel's tiny, dwarf-body, enjoying his dominance over the guy who technically has the ability to alternate the life of somebody, as he did with Shrek. The more he circled, the more he could see that this little guy, with his red sleeves and his brown vest, with a yellow cloth attached around his neck, and his brown clothing elsewhere, was simply helpless and was trying to run away from something, or somewhere.

"Yeah...I have a magical contract for you, just sign it, and we can throw away any problems you might be suffering at this moment in time, dear sir.."

"Do you think bribery will suddenly keep you from imprisonment?"

"Uh, what does that mean, dear, friendly sir?"

"First of all, I don't need to tell you to remain silent again, I've heard your silly attempts at escaping from other intruders before. For now, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE TAKEN TO HIS MAJESTY HIMSELF!"

"Uhh..." Rumpel was shaking in his little shoes, "Who is 'his majesty' if I may ask, kind, noble knight?"

"Quite frankly, you should know the ruler of these lands already...I patrol here every night, we look for intruders like yourself, and let me tell you, Charming isn't happy when insignificant beings attempt to walk across his land without his permission..."

"Charming? since when?"

The knight suddenly became frozen; it was as if, upon Rumpel interrogating that this Charming guy is supposedly the ruler of these lands near the swamp, it had caused the knight to trigger his defence mode. Finally though, the knight opened up his mouth, but this would be the last time he would do it before finally moving forwards with what his master has commanded him, and numerous other patrolling knights to do; bring back any trespassers to the base.

"I'll have to teach you, dear boy. I understand that you lack the knowledge...so it's obviously within my needs to give you some education, right? Here...let's get started, shall we?" he passively-aggressively said.

The knight suddenly grabbed a hold of Rumpel's tiny body to yank him up onto his shoulders, with Rumpel now resting his tummy on the knight's cold, hard steel armoured shoulder.

"AHH, PUT ME DOWN, WE CAN MAKE A DEAL, SIR! PUT ME DOWNNN!"

"Oh, you'll get a deal alright, haha" The knight laughed, jumping back onto his brown horse with Rumpel on his shoulder.

"TO THE NORTH!" The knight emitted to his horse, slowly placing the helmet back down onto his head before charging back towards the area where his majesty resides.

"aHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! SOMEONE HELP MEEE!" Rumpel yelled, slamming the knight's hard armoured back with his tiny hands, but they felt like tickles than actual fists due to the difference in his size and the strength of the metal.

The wind that was passing his hair, as was the view of moving backwards on a HORSE, made Rumpel feel totally unsafe, and somewhat threatened by this knight. Where is he being taken? who is 'Charming'? and most importantly, since when did Charming rule these lands?


	4. Charming's buildup

**CHAPTER 4: Charming's buildup**

To say that Charming failed in capitalising on his motivations for a rise up would be a complete lie. When he was on his way out of Far-Far away, the day after he had climbed out of the tower that had collapsed around him thanks to Dragon, he was looking completely disturbed, and kept on spouting out tons of things that he'd do should he gain power in some form. The passing citizens at the time had overheard him, and they had admitted to him that they were outraged at the prospect of some nerdy little kid taking power of THEIR kingdom. Eventually, the amount of citizens that had gathered upon Charming's support allowed him to make his views known on a wider audience. He wrote books to spread his views, some titled 'Nerd in power' and 'Don't let him stay'. Outside of these books, he emphasised the point to his rapidly-growing supporters that some hideous orge was the reason why Artie gained power, and that he was going to trace down that orge and end him once and for all. Eventually, as Charming's support base grew, the kingdom of Far-Far away had became uneasy at the rise; the type of people that were backing Charming's view of destroying the kingdom in order to make way for a new kingdom ruled by Charming himself were those who were actually in support of the coup that Charming had did prior to the play he was trying to put on, where he nearly slayed Shrek before the orge's friends came to the rescue.

Eventually, Artie had no choice but to send his own force of loyal knights to dispose of Charming and his gang from the kingdom, but by the time they did, so many people were inspired by Charming's views and his passion and his determination, that they actually FOUGHT back against the knights. It was a wild protest, but one that Charming's crew couldn't win. Before they were entirely out, however, Charming's supporters had broke into the various shops of Far-Far away, and some even sneaked into the castle; if they were going to be removed, they'll need supplies and armory and all of the essentials needed for Charming to commence his views into reality. They stole food, they stole armour, they stole a bunch of swords, they stole plenty of building supplies, but worst of all, they had even stole some of the wealth from the shops. Right after that, Charming had finally left Far-Far away, with the opportunity to create his own army, where he'd be their leader, and he'll be served as such. He won't have to do a thing, and they'll do it all for him. In the end, Charming's force had grown to at least 100+ citizens from Far-Far away. Some of the citizens even had skills in smelting and creating extra weaponry, meaning that Prince Charming could easily utilise them to build him some more defence gear and so on.

From all of that, it's came down to this point; in a forest much further away from the swamp, rested one decently-sized base with a border made of wood going around it. Right at the very end of the base was one medium-sized house which was built out of stone and wood; this was Charming's main area that he was situated in. He had piles of swords in it, he had armour, and he had farm foods from the growth of edible stuff from the farms nearby. There were two defense towers situated at the front of the village's border; in these two towers rested armoured-up knights, equipped with crossbows, in which they'd strike any intruder who tries to enter the base. But knights had also did patrol walks all around the border, to make sure nobody was hiding for some sort of warmth; anybody who steps into the land that Charming proclaims as his own, are instantly taken prisoner and to Charming himself. Where Charming keeps his prisoners is in an area that, as always, due to his servants, was built entirely by them under his command, rather than him contributing. Inside his stone and wood medium-sized fortress rested a trapdoor, in which black handles were situated around it for whoever's entering it. The trapdoor was again, bigger than usual, because his prisoners had to fit in there. Having an underground prison means that those that have been imprisoned will find it impossible to escape, even when it's not being occupied by a patrol knight. The rest of the base, aside from Charming's fortress, covered horse pens, with horses themselves in which they've been bred for future usage, farms, and weapon storage. Knights were always walking through it, and there were a few scattered, wooden houses amongst the borders in which these knights had slept. Think of this as a nowhere-near-finished vision of what Charming want's his future kingdom to be like.

Sitting in front of his wooden desk, Charming was firmly rubbing his two swords together, to get the ultimate sharpness out of them. The sound of his swords scratching each other made him enjoy the moment, as if he's scratching the skin off of one of his prisoners. He swiftly and proudly moved his head backwards to clear his blonde hair from his forehead. Since it's been a year and possibly more, since we had last seen the ruthless, power-hungry human, Charming had grown facial hair; he had a blonde mustache, along with a beard that covered his chin with a small extent of thickness. Apart from that, his deceiving eyes remained the same, as did the size of his body. He was currently wearing his blue and golden clothing, with his legs wearing a boring, darkened blue, as his top had held a few touches of gold, but pretty much the entirety of his top clothing remained the same. His collar was all golden at the top, giving him a physical appearance of wealth in a way. He has his own armour, but nowadays, he doesn't have to do anything, for his knights and his servants do the capturing for him. Despite it being night time, Charming was expecting one more prisoner to be delivered to his fortress before he hit the sack; specifically, this prisoner was caught amongst 'his lands' as he was walking away from Far-Far away, wanting to do a bit of exploring following his turn from being a villian. It should be obvious that on that basis, Charming has a bit of history with this guy.

Right at the front of the border of the lit-up with torches base, a knight, wielding his finest and shiniest armour, with his horse, had rode back towards his destination, with somebody wearing a purple jacket resting on his tummy on the horse helplessly. This was most likely the prisoner that Charming's been waiting for, and he looked familiar; he had a hook on his one hand, and the other was pretty much the same as any other human. The knight had patted his white-and-brown horse to stop in front of the wooden gate, as the two towers that had the ability to open and close the gate scanned the presence of the knight, aiming their crossbows at him.

"TOWER LEFT, CLEAR. TOWER RIGHT, CLEAR!" The knight yelled, sticking his right hand up towards the towers with a thumbs up; this was the procedure that EVERY returning knight had to do before being granted entry into the base.

"POSITIVE!" yelled the right tower.

"POSITIVE INDEED, IN WHICH HE SHALL BE LET THROUGH!" yelled the left tower, with both of the knights on the towers, after visually confirming for themselves that it was a genuine knight of their master, giving each other the thumbs up; when this happened, this was the cue for them to open the gate, in which the two towers had one big lever each to do so. It was attached to a gigantic thick amount of string, so they could open and close the gigantic wooden gate as they please.

The two knights in the guard towers pushed the lever into the direction that they had to, in which the giant, wooden entrance was now being shifted into a gate; it was slowly moving forwards into the base to unveil the base itself, and upon the inside being visually made possible to see for the knight on the ground, the two tower guards had stopped pushing the lever, seeing that the knight on the horse was easily able to enter into the base. Usually, after somebody's entered the base, it's within both of the tower's intentions to shut the gate as quick as possible, so that no outside intruders can sneak in. Who'd want to sneak in, anyways? considering that whoever did, would instantly be captured and imprisoned.

"I'm doing you proud, mummy...soon..I shall rule over my own kingdom, upon which I will fulfil my destiny of gaining power, slaying those who have opposed me...and.." Charming suddenly stood up off of his chair, resorting to yelling to himself inside his fortress, "MAKING ANYBODY REGRET THE DAY THAT THEY HAD CHOSEN TO OPPOSE MEEE-"

"Uh your majesty?" a knight said, standing at the door of the fortress, noticing Charming holding a sword up into the air whilst yelling to himself.

"I uh, ahem, what is it?" Charming curiously said, trying to cover up his self-talking.

"He's here...imminently, sir, the prisoner you've been wanting for a while will be here within a matter of seconds..."

"I don't need to waste any time here, go on, bring him in at once"

"Indeed, King Charming..."

The knight scrambled away from the open door back to the outside, in which Charming was leaning on his sword whilst standing. He walked back over to his desk, where his second sword was planted at, and upon holding onto it, Charming started to visualise how he'd kill Shrek; he's got the army and the force to do it, so now, he may as well start practicing it whilst waiting for the prisoner to enter through the door.

"Shrek..how does it feel to have stopped me, huh?" Charming said, once again talking to himself, "did you honestly think that I'd be eradicated from gaining power? look here, hideous ORGE, they say that the past can't hurt you...right? well ironically, the past fueled me...and now, with that in mind, allow me to make the imminent future your final moments! HAAAYAAAAAAAAH!"

Charming made a bunch of swinging shapes with his swords, in which the direction he was planting them in was where he was imagining Shrek to be. He suddenly collided one of his swords against the wall, and upon causing a scratch, he rested the swords blade-first onto the ground, holding onto the bottom handles of them. He nodded to himself, feeling like he should save his slaying tactics for when he eventually, somehow sees Shrek again. There wasn't any time for him to continue imagining, because there was a ton of footsteps emerging from behind the door, and it opened subsequently afterwards; in which two knights had took a firm grasp of the same Captain Hook who claimed that he wanted to grow daffodils after turning on Charming. He still had his purple jacket on, and his hook was still on his lost hand. Charming chuckled, placing every finger on his hands together, looking mysterious and unpredictable.

"Ah, nice of you to drop in, hey?" Charming laughed, walking over towards Hook as he was forcefully lowered down onto his knees by the two knights.

"Charmin'...why..."

"Wait...let his hook first...be...removed..." Charming said, gesturing towards the two knights, making an expression as if he was pulling his own hand out of his arm circuit.

One knight had grasped the entirety of Hook's back, as the pirate fairy-tale captain looked exhausted, and somewhat intimidated. This was the first time he had seen Charming for over a year, since he turned on him in favour of Artie. He could feel the second knight lift his hook up, before the knight started to grasp upon it. There, he plonked the hook right off of his arm, exposing a round, shiny, handless part of his arm, in which the hook was placed to cover it up. The knight had then walked over towards Charming, handing the hook over.

"Still growing your daffodils? I see you're looking quite down, hey? what's the matter? did they die?"

"Charmin'..." Hook was literally breathless, due to the pressure being mounted upon him, "what's going on here?"

"What's going on here? not only have you stepped across my land, but you've a price to pay, right? I mean, it's time that you paid your fair share of the bargain for letting that wimp take over what is now a rotten wasteland of a kingdom?"

"I'm sorry..I just could not hide it..."

Charming looked up at the knights, confusingly, looking back down at Hook on his knees. Charming suddenly grabbed ahold of the hook that was once on the Captain's hand, taking it off his desk, before moving his blue-golden clothed body back towards the purple-jacket-wearing fairy-tale-character. There, he ducked down to Hook's level, planting the hook firmly against his neck.

"You really...really..should of hidden it at the time, huh? it'd be the easiest thing in the world for me to accurately cut your throat open, but I'd rather watch you be surrounded in an atmosphere of isolation, you utter, complete waste of life...knights...get him to the underground prison..." With that, Charming stood back up, taking the hook away from his throat.

Charming opened up a drawer into his desk, pulling out a ring of silver keys; these were the keys to the cells in the underground jail, in which he had also locked the trapdoor. Proudly, Charming handed over the keys to the knight that wasn't holding Hook. Once the knight got the keys, he walked over to the trapdoor and ducked down to unlock it. As he did this, the other knight, with hook in his grasp, aggressively shoved the Captain to move, despite looking exhausted and weak.

"Not only are you being imprisoned for letting me down, on the one chance I gave your type...but if things had worked out differently, I wouldn't include you walking across my lands as the other explanation. I can't bare to look at your cowardly face. GUARDS, get him out of my sight, pronto..."

The knights were preparing Hook to be shoved through the trapdoor into the underground jail, much to Charming's delight, after the proclaimed ruler of these lands had pointed to it after commanding his knights to get Hook out of his sight.

As Charming was firmly setting the tone for his future invasion of Far-Far away, in which he intends to completely destroy it and kill everyone there, he's got another intruder of his 'lands' coming; Rumpelstiltskin, and sooner than later, Charming's about to meet somebody who shares pretty much the same views as he does in terms of Shrek.


	5. Forming the alliance

**CHAPTER 5: Forming the alliance**

As his tiny body was held over the knight's shiny shoulder from his armour, Rumpel had ultimately fell asleep in the midst of being taken over to the base. It's took this knight a good hour or so to travel on his horse from the point of the swamp he had found Rumpel 'intruding' in to get to where he's at now. His destination was finally fulfilled, for he had now arrived to the base in which this little guy he's found walking across the land of his master will be imprisoned. As the knight came to a screeching halt on his horse as they had arrived in front of the wooden border, he retracted his helmet front to unveil his bearded face, and upon doing so, the two tower's with the crossbow-equipped knights aimed their weapons over towards the figure standing within their entrance. Upon seeing the shininess of the armour reflect from the knight, the two towers nodded at him below, waiting for the cue.

"TOWER LEFT, CLEAR! TOWER RIGHT, CLEAR!" The knight with Rumpel on his shoulder yelled, which had suddenly caused Rumpelstiltskin to emerge from his sleep, noticing that he's no longer moving, yet he was clearly seeing the back of a horse, and it felt like he was still on the shoulder of somebody.

"POSITIVE!"

"POSITIVE INDEED, IN WHICH HE SHALL BE LET THROUGH!" The left tower yelled, giving the thumbs up subsequently to the other tower in order to push the entrance open with their gigantic wooden levers.

Rumpelstiltskin had suddenly started scrambling, realizing where he's at. It honestly felt like it was just a minute that had passed between now and when he was captured, but that wasn't relevant at this point; he really wanted to know where he was being taken, and as a result, his tiredness wasn't masking his personality as much as it usually would to somebody who wakes up. The knight on the horse started moving forwards as the horse made the way through the opened wooden entrance, sending it's hooves into a combination of bangs amongst the ground. Upon this, Rumpel looked upwards to notice a large collection of wooden walls in front of him as the knight was moving inwards to the base.

"WOAH, WHERE ARE WE?!" Rumpel yelled, holding his palms against the knights armour-back, but there was a vacant response from the knight.

Many many people in the base were looking at Rumpel, and they weren't the only ones who were covering his eyesight; beyond these, there were houses, a bunch of weaponry stacks, horse pens, the smell of burning, and ultimately, more knights looking as if they're guarding something. Rumpel genuinely didn't like where this was going; it looked like a dangerous place to be in, but the thing is, this was basically what he had in his power when he had lured Shrek into the alternative universe. Judging by the formation of this place, as it was still night time, it occurred to Rumpel that whoever the leader of this place is, he definitely isn't an easy one to cope with. These people were either smelting, or burning logs to create food, or smashing hammers against swords, to strengthen the steel.

Without a warning, the knight had suddenly, and carefully, made his way off of the horse, keeping Rumpel within his grasp. He planted the frightened Rumpel to his two feet on the bare ground, still keeping a firm grasp of the little deal-maker from his arm. Upon standing besides the horse, the knight had patted it gently, wanting it to have a rest from the travelling it's done. Two more knights had emerged from a nearby horse pen to come and take the horse slowly over towards it's enclosure, to feed it and to water it for another time in which it'll be needed for travelling.

"Listen, I uh...I really don't need to be here?" Rumpel said, being forced to walk as the knight was starting to approach the fortress of Charming, in which it was becoming closer to Rumpel's body. The knight's armoured-up arms were firmly hooking Rumpel into place as to make sure that he doesn't do a runner.

"Let's see what King Charming has to say about that, hey?"

"What...what have I done? look, let me go, and we can arrange for you to become a king yourself?" Rumpel offered, shivering at the unpredictability of his capture.

This caught the knight by surprise; this little guy keeps repeating the same sentence over and over, talking about some sort of deal. In order to fulfill his surprise, the knight stopped firmly in place, in the midst of the base where everyone, including the ruler of this base himself, Charming, seemed to be hitting the sack, whilst the other knights were going to spend all night guarding the towers and patrolling the border.

"Let's get one thing clear, none of us have the gullible side that you seek, so don't push it, little guy. The fact that you trespassed upon his majesty's lands initially is bad enough, but with your constant attempts at a bribe, I'm only gonna ensure that he makes you do labour" the knight firmly said, looking back towards the wooden and stone fortress which had contained Charming's presence.

"Okay okay, but uh, maybe if you'd let me tell you about it in-depth, we can go somewhere? I'm Rumpelstiltskin, I was the best deal maker going, before my entire business became one big descent in the hands of that...erghh.." Rumpel had shook and vibrated in his palms, feeling angered at the thought of Shrek.

The knight had suddenly chuckled to himself, upon noticing that this little prisoner had just visibly became angered; evident by his brief shaking just now. His little yellow cloth around his neck was practically bouncing up and down from his chest it was that noticeable. Whilst he chuckled, he had loosened his grip on Rumpel's arm, in which Rumpel himself had detected the weaker-grip. Taking advantage of this, the dwarf-sized deal maker had suddenly started running away back towards the entrance, but as soon as he did, it was as if an alarm had went off. He could feel his feet naturally sprint for the opposite direction of where the knight was taking him, in the midst of instantly becoming hot and sweaty.

"THE PRISONER! GUYS, AHHH, GET HIMMMMMM!" The knight yelled, gesturing for the other knights in the distance to capture Rumpel's charging body.

As Rumpel was running, a bunch of knights were building up into a running stance from the left and right of his sprinting body; at this point, even if he was to make it for the base entrance, the two tower guards aren't going to let him out, so this was practically pointless. He felt like he was being chased by a bunch of orges trying to maul his body down with spears and battleaxes, as they did in the alternative universe.

"AHHHHHH, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The knights approaching yelled and roared, suddenly making a collective leap over for Rumpel's running body.

"ARGHHH!" Rumpel yelled, as he was suddenly cornered off in his eyesight by the darkness of the knights landing onto his body; he felt the cold, hard steel emit it's hardness through onto his clothes and his hair, in which he was then dragged back upwards from the numerous knights.

"ARGH, LEAVE ME ALONE, DO YOU NOT KNOW WHO I AM?! I'M RUMPELSTILTSKIN!"

"Get him to the master, ASAP!" One of the knights yelled, breathing heavily after having to sprint just now.

Charming was holding one sword in his hand, practicing his movements for the final time, and once again, he was talking to himself. There were a few more scratch marks that he had gotten upon the wall, but it wasn't too noticeable. He raised his hands up, as he was wearing his golden and blue, golden-collar clothing, yawning to get ready for the night. He briefly walked over towards the trapdoor, to ensure that it was firmly locked, in which it was. He ducked down specifically towards it, wanting to give all of the prisoners he's got down there a night message.

"Night and night...try and escape, and our swords will impale you from my knights..." Charming chuckled, admiring his rhythm.

He had added Captain Hook into the prison recently, for not only trespassing across 'his' land, but also for turning his back on Charming during the events of Shrek 3. Charming was in the mindset that if his knights had managed to capture any of the fairy-tale villains that had joined Artie's side at the time, there would be no questions asked; instant imprisonment. There wouldn't be any sort of interrogative about whether or not they had trespassed across the land he's claimed as his own, because they already have a justified reason for being turned into the prison.

Charming stood back up, and proceeded to make his way for the steps which had ultimately led up to his bed, which was of the same quality as the one he had back at Far-Far away. As he was about to walk up, though, a ton of footsteps, along with the sound of somebody whining and struggling, was gradually getting closer to the door, before the front door itself had suddenly slammed itself open from the numerous knights carrying Rumpelstiltskin. They had battered the door back with their feet, in order to rapidly get this small prisoner inside for his attempt at escaping just now.

"ARGH! WHO ARE YOU?!"

"Uh...what is it now, knights?" Charming reluctantly huffed, not bothering to look back at the commotion which was unfolding in the direction that his back was facing.

"ARGH, MAKE THEM LET ME GO, I WAS JUST TRYING TO ESCAPE AN ORGE, AND I WAS INSTANTLY FORCED HERE!" Rumpel yelled, which had caused Charming's entire face to brighten up with a raised-up eyebrow. His entire mind was suddenly focused upon wanting to know what this prisoner, that's just been brought in, was specifically talking about when he said 'orge'.

"HOW DARE YOU ADDRESS THE KING?!" One of the knights yelled, at a panicked, and shocked Rumpel.

"I...I FORGOT, I SWEAR, DEAR SIR!"

"YOU WILL NOT KNOW ANY LONGER, GET THE KEY-"

"Wait..." Charming firmly stated, turning his direction back over towards the commotion as a ton of knights were packed within a hard grasp of Rumpelstiltskin's tiny body.

As the knights obeyed, and took the state of practically being frozen, as it felt for Rumpel, given that they were literally moving as quickly as anybody could when dragging somebody along, Charming had unveiled his entire figure forwards towards Rumpelstiltskin, still being held tightly by the knights. Charming was pacing towards the left and right in the space in front of Rumpel and the knights. Charming was holding one sword in his grasp, as his blue and golden, warrior-looking clothing had given him the appearance of somebody who's clearly got the capability of causing harm, despite his good, charming looks. Rumpel in turn, looked up at Charming, in which the young deal-maker had suddenly stopped breathing heavily to make sure that he doesn't get on the wrong side of this guy, who looked like he was up to his name. His hairstyle was neat, his eyes glanced a shine, and his beard made him look all the more manlier. He swiftly moved some bits of hair from his forehead, utilising his fantastic ability to smoothly rush it out of the inconvenient parts of his head.

It was quite fascinating to realize that, although this is the first time these two have met, they both have tons of similarities; both hate Shrek, both want vengeance, both have long history with Shrek, and they've both came close to killing Shrek, with Rumpel being closer than Charming, which, when acknowledged, you wouldn't think given the current scenario, where Charming and his servants have the dominance over Rumpel.

"What is your name...dwarf...?" Charming interrogated poshly, holding the sword.

"Uh...uh...Rumpelstiltskin..."

"And how...did you come to enter my dominion?" Charming once again interrogated, shortening his eyes to give a serious expression, which was a mixture of a grumpy-looking face and a curious looking face.

"I uh...I was just on the verge of getting away from these orges that had trapped me-..."

"Orges? do you know their names?" Charming said, placing his hand without the sword onto his rib, whilst with the other hand, he was keeping the sword planted top-first onto the ground, so he was holding it like a staff.

"Shrek...and he's got a couple of disgusting little orge babies...rargh..." Rumpel said, getting angered once again from the thought of Shrek. "He's got an orge wife called Fiona. He...he ruined my business...I genuinely despise that filthy creature with every bit of hatred I can possibly find...I was THIS close..." he made an expression with his finger, "to ending him...but then he found...true loves kiss..."

Charming's heart was beating much much faster; he was suddenly, and stealthily, filled with excitement based on the information that this prisoner was giving him; he's not seen Shrek in ages, and if what he's saying is true, he can instantly get on with his other objective of gaining revenge against Shrek. He wanted this prisoner to feel as if Charming himself was a good, cooperative being, so suddenly, his charming face emerged from a blank, curious one into a smile.

"Rumpel..." Charming interrupted, in the midst of Rumpel mumbling a bunch of hatred towards Shrek, "you look so afraid...do you want to come and sit with me?" he offered, pointing towards the two chairs behind his wooden desk.

Rumpelstiltskin suddenly looked confused, and there was a gigantic question mark that had emerged within his head that was the source of his shocked face; why is this master, as he's been portrayed by these knights, suddenly the contrast of them? he did, though, like the idea of being comforted. Charming moved towards the direction of the two chairs whilst looking at Rumpel with a smile, gesturing for the knights to let him go. The knights themselves were somewhat baffled at Charming's generosity, but they wouldn't dis-obey what their future kingdom-leader wants. As soon as Charming's face was planted towards the chairs, with his back facing Rumpel, his eyes widened, and he was leaving his mouth in a small, open stance with an overall serious expression. Him going to bed had to be left for now; Charming felt like this was his priority, evident from his expression away from Rumpel. He wanted to come across as a kind person, so Rumpel could work with him.

Charming moved the two chairs from the wooden desk, with him sitting down first. As he sat down, he once again smiled at Rumpel with his handsomeness, indicating towards Rumpel for him to sit next to him. The knights behind Rumpel were cautious, so even though Charming had given them the order to let him go, they kept a protective-status around Charming. Charming had briefly pointed to one of the knights to make sure that the trapdoor wasn't visible to this little guy. Rumpel had his hands curled up, occasionally playing with his brown vest and his yellow cloth, before finally moving over towards the chair next to Charming, and sitting on it; it was extremely relaxing to finally sit on an actual chair.

Charming moved forwards towards Rumpel on the chair, placing his sword against the wall behind the desk, being deadly serious about his intention of wanting to come across as kind and friendly.

"Now, how about something to drink?" Charming asked Rumpel, raising an eyebrow with a smile.

"Maybe...but...why?"

"Haha, you seem like a rather curiosity-filled chap. Knights, can you fetch this fellow something to drink, and to eat? maybe a loaf of bread, and a cup of water, make sure it's of the finest quality..."

"Indeed, Sir Charming..." the knights replied, retracting their helmets to unveil their proper faces, walking out of the fortress in order to gather the food and drinks for Rumpel.

"I..I don't understand?"

"You know, 'Rumpelstiltskin', there was a time where I didn't either, but courage is what kept me moving forwards, and I want to make sure that...after your horrific, shocking escape from those creatures, that you're fed and watered, haha..."

The food and water supplies were literally a short distance from the fortress, as they were kept at the far end of Charming's base anyways. As a result, in about a minute after Charming had requested for it, a knight had emerged through the front door back into the fortress building, where Charming was letting Rumpel sit down and relax, with a small loaf of bread and a steel cup of water. The knight stopped directly in front of the table in the path of Rumpel, slowly placing the food and drink down, as his armour was making a metal-collision noise.

"Your drink, and food...sire..." the knight said, moving backwards from the table.

Rumpel moved his chair forwards towards the desk, as Charming was watching on from behind him, seeing his plan come perfectly together. But there was a sense of unpredictability to be made within Charming; his face was like a statue, his eyes were sometimes looking at the food and the drink as Rumpel was consuming and drinking, and it looked as if he was wanting something out of this. As Rumpel was digging into the lovely feel of food in his mouth, and the soft, cold texture of water, which had ultimately made his throat wet again, Charming was about to ask Rumpel a favour.

"Rumpel?" Charming said, watching as Rumpel was eating the bread. "I would very much like you to bring Shrek here..."

Rumpel sat up away from the table, as he adjusted his brown vest and his sleeves, looking back at Charming's face of handsomeness with an expression that came across as 'What? are you serious?'

"Why? he's not worth my time, dear sir.."

Charming's eyes briefly widened to the highest magnitude upon Rumpel's attitude just now; he could sense that this guy hated Shrek, but his attitude just now had made him come across as cocky.

"Oh, honestly Rumpel, I can relate to that. Here's the thing, me and you, we've got a bit of history, haven't we? with that creature. I came close to killing him too, before some snotty imbecile took over the throne of Far-Far away, and that was in thanks to that orge. But you see, Rumpel, I've got bigger plans, and you're exactly the type of person who I could see...one day...becoming a top knight of mine...and when it comes down to it, maybe even the co-leader of my future kingdom?"

"Woah...r-really?"

"But of course, you'd have to bring the orges here before all of that..."

"Oh...do you mean..." Rumpel had swallowed his food down his throat before asking the question, "that I'll have to try another deal with him or whatever?"

"A deal, what? haha, no, no nooo, well I can provide you with some assistance, if you'll struggle? and in the end, you'll be rewarded...truly..."

"So hold on...you...hate Shrek, too? we can do more than a deal, we can work together to bring that smelly orge down?"

"Indeed, but you'll have to do the first few steps..."

Rumpel sighed, as he looked at his plate and his steel cup on Charming's wooden desk; he felt extremely equipped, and lucky, since the leader of all of these knights that patrol the land, and the knight that captured him, has turned out to hate Shrek as well. Rumpelstiltskin could also sense an opportunity at power again, if he accepts the offer that Prince Charming is putting forwards to him. Of course, anything where he can give Shrek a payback vengeance means that he can't refuse, so he nodded at Charming as he munched on one half of his bread.

"I, I guess I can do that" Rumpel confirmed, with Charming instantly smiling.

Prince Charming had suddenly moved forwards to take the plate with the bread and the steel cup, handing it back over towards the knight who was guarding the trapdoor, so Rumpel wouldn't see it. Rumpel looked somewhat devastated at his food and drink being taken away, but Charming had other thoughts in his mind that had briefly got Rumpel distracted from the fact that his food and drink were basically snatched just now.

"I'll get a carriage, with the same knight, to take you back to where you came from...you'll love it when we succeed, Rumpel. Shrek gone, and we'll finally be able to rule a kingdom together, with food, and everything.." he once again let off a smile, with his teeth shining a glimpse of silver.

"C-Couldn't I have that food and cup, like, more, now?"

And now, the contrast of what Charming has been coming across as towards Rumpel had suddenly shined through.

" **NO!** "

Rumpel suddenly stood up from his seat, as Charming had accidentally unveiled a tiny portion of his true colours, which had nearly ruined the entire vibe that Rumpel was getting of Charming; friendly, and honest. Charming crunched his eyes together, wanting to look as if the manner that he had just denied Rumpel his food was unintentional, and was simply due to some other issues running through his head.

"I'm sorry, just don't wanna ruin your appetite, little guy. Besides, we'll be seeing each other, again, very soon, won't we?"

"I uh, I hope so, your majesty..."

The knights had all came back into the fortress, looking at Rumpel with caution once again.

"Guys, take this Rumpel back over to where you found him, he's gonna do us a good favor...arrange a carriage, two horses, and ensure that he's put back where you found him, PRECISELY. When he comes back, we'll be able to move forwards with our plans, and this little guy here will be of a huge significance when it happens..." Charming said to the knights, with them nodding towards their master. They had gestured for Rumpel to move outwards from the fortress back to the outside, where they were going to ride him back to the swamp. He essentially has the permission of Charming now, to walk amongst 'his' lands.

"Until then, little guy.." Charming declared, as Rumpel was moving off of his chair over towards the knights, feeling energetic about working with somebody who also hates Shrek to bring the orge down. "Remember, bring the orges here, and then we'll get to work..." he finished his sentence with a wink, as Rumpel, in a maniac-style, laughed at the prospect of ending Shrek in a team.

Finally, Rumpel had exited the fortress, following the knights into the dark outside area of the base, but as soon as Rumpel's little body was out, Charming started chuckling to himself with a smile; he was just too unpredictable to call at the moment. Was he being serious with Rumpel, or was it just him attempting to look like somebody he's not for the sake of Rumpel doing the task? does he have any intention to 'team' up with Rumpel at all, or is it all just one big gig, so when Rumpel does, somehow, bring the orge's back, he'll turn on him and admit that he only used him? time will tell, but now, the official alliance between Prince Charming and Rumpelstiltskin, two of the deadliest foes of Shrek, is underway; Rumpel has been asked by Charming to bring back the orges to his base via the carriage, but how will Rumpel do it?


	6. The plan

**CHAPTER 6: The plan**

"Right, you know what he expects of you?" the unmasked knight asked, sitting opposite Rumpel in the carriage as it was bumping up and down from the horse's rapid running.

The sound of hooves rushed through the ears of the knight and Rumpel in a loud, and repetitive fashion. Rumpelstiltskin was being transported back to where he was initially found, and as a result, the unmasked knight sitting in the carriage with him was the one who took him to the base in the first place. Under Charming's permission, Rumpel is now able to walk freely across the land without any other patrol knights capturing him, and he's informed the majority of them on that fact. As the carriage was bumping not only sideways, but upwards and downwards due to the level of the ground below, Rumpel looked out to the small window from the carriage, which was only a hole crafted through the wood, completely and utterly clueless on how he's going to bring Shrek over to it. The plan was, he'd bring Shrek over to the carriage, and then, somehow, without the orge getting a sense of deja vu from being in a carriage with him, due to that resulting in him almost being banished from existence by signing a magical contract last time, he'd be transported over to Charming's base, where Charming can officially execute his vengeance.

"Hold on...I can't do anything without my business, and and and...why doesn't he just come along with me? and why do I have to share a kingdom with him if I do bring this..this...foul beast back? why can't I have it ALL?!" Rumpel greedily snapped, instantly easing down his tone from the intimidating body of the knight.

"Woah, watch it, little guy. Rants come and go, but ranting about his majesty is a matter which you really don't want to pursue in front of me..."

"Hey, I thought we were friends...dear, oh mighty sir?"

"We're all doing you a favor here, but you're showing a huge proportion of complacency and mere-language. You kept on rambling on and on about these contracts and your business. What're you blabbering about?" the knight asked, sitting backwards on his seat in the carriage.

Rumpelstiltskin mimicked his stance, sitting backwards on the seat, but he did it differently afterwards. He placed his right leg onto the top of his left leg, which was still dangling off of the seat. So now, he was in a semi-crossing legs sitting stance, in order to rest his small body from all of the hassle that went on prior to this moment. He thought that now, since he's seemingly started an alliance with Charming, he can reveal why he's got the motives he's obtained from past, and obvious events, to one of his servants. Rumpel adjusted his brown vest and yellow cloth around his neck, with his hair remaining in place.

"Well, it takes us quite a while back, doesn't it? I had...I had it all in my grasp...the kingdom of Far-Far away, it was like dangling a chest full of gold in front of me, where I could have easily taken it...I had a contract that permitted me to put an end to the problems that any person was suffering...the-"

The carriage suddenly went over a lump of land, causing Rumpel's tiny body to briefly move into the air, before landing back down to the seat, causing him to slide. The knight didn't seem phased by that, however, and his body remained in place from the carriage's wheels rapidly moving over whatever it was that caused the bumpy collision just now. He looked like he was taking in every segment of information that Rumpel was throwing at him, for better or for worse. Rumpelstiltskin rubbed his clothes off of any dust, and briefly coughed, circling his fingers on his left hand together with his palm to place over his mouth as he did. He returned to what he was initially saying.

"It was a deal of such a magnitude that nobody could resist...not even the king and queen of Far-Far away. They came to me, all of the offers were on the table, and..." Rumpel's voice was intensifying in deepness by the minute as he was talking about the process of nearly getting the kingdom handed over to him at the time, before it backfired and caused him failure, "they...they nearly did it, until SOMEBODY...SOMEBODYYYY...decided to pluck their nose into some business that they had no right of being apart of...he..he took everything I worked for and just...crushed it ..like a bunch of sweeties to a little boy..."

"You're gonna have to be specific with me, sire. Who's 'he'?"

"Shrek...but just let me quickly tell you, dear knight, he got lucky with me, because if it...if it wasn't for Fiona falling for him at the last second when I was at the top of my level, when I had the kingdom in my grasp for the future...and when I had his life vanishing from existence, I would have succeeded..he's an egotistical, TYRANNICAL, CONTRACT-STEALING, RAT-EATING, MERE-BEING CREATURE WHO'D BE DEAD BY NOW IF HE WASN'T LUCKYY!" he yelled, breathing heavily afterwards, in order to cool himself out from the anger that had generated from him at the recalling of his failure to both end Shrek in the alternative universe and to have full power over Far-Far away without any opposition, which is what he would of obtained if he succeeded in banishing Shrek from existence.

Rumpel's voice softened significantly, to that of a tone in which you wouldn't have thought that he was as angry as he looked and sounded just now.

"That's all from me, haha...sir..." he said, smiling with his previously-deceiving face.

"I think you and the master are going to work out just fine...let me tell you, little guy. Just fine..." The knight said, chuckling to himself whilst connecting all his fingers from both his palms together, before moving them apart to have his arms crossed on his armored-up chest.

"Will I be honored to have you coming with me?" Rumpel asked, in regards to finding the orges and bringing them back to the carriage, realizing that he can't do it by himself.

"Here's the plan; tomorrow morning, I'll head off back to the base so I can remind the master of what you're doing, and then, tomorrow night, I'll carriage all the way back here to pick you, and what should be the orges, with you, up in order to transport you all back to the base. From there, you can watch with a big smile on your face, the descent of your so-called enemies in the form of this Shrek orge...the master himself in fact, holds the same amount of hatred towards him as you seem to do, he's spoken about him here and there..."

"So hold on, hold on hold on hold on...I can sleep here for tonight, right? and then in the morning...I have to try and bring Shrek back to where ever I'm being dropped off at, for the night? like, you'll be gone for the day, and then you'll be back here at NIGHT?"

"Precisely..."

"Oh please, sir, you've gotta help me out with this...I can't possibly do this, not without my contracts or..or...assistance?"

"All of this juicy information you've fed to me, it's only an obligation of mine that I inform the master of it all, what with you and him becoming an alliance, it's vital that I prioritise informing my leader...and about your concerns, whatever needs to be done, get it done, even if it means resorting to matters that you find...peculiar...anything that spells effectiveness is a tactic that'll work"

Rumpel was scratching his head, genuinely unsure about how he's going to get this done. The carriage was slowing down gradually, after spending a good amount of time moving with the horse in front, after the knight had gestured for the horse to make a stop. The area they were getting into looked like it was a divide between the way into the swamp and the forest. In short, it looked like a very small combination of the two. The sky was still as dark and bland as ever, showing no signs of the morning emerging any time soon. The knight, however, is allowing Rumpel to sleep in here for tonight, so he can be warmed up and readied up for his promise that he had said to Charming he could execute with success. There was vacancy in the movement of the carriage, which meant that it had officially stopped for the night.

"Well then, here we are...you stay in here for the night, I'll have to tend to the horse. If you stay here, you're basically immune from any of the patrol knights near here capturing you and mistaking you for a prisoner, got it?" the knight said, opening the wooden hatch of the carriage to the dark outside.

"If only Fifi was here for this..." Rumpel mumbled to himself, passing from the ears of the knight, in which Rumpel didn't intend for him to hear it anyways.

The knight slowly moved his metal-covered legs over and out to the outside, pulling his entire body out of the carriage, as it was surrounded by complete darkness, with Charming's other patrol knights possibly in the vicinity. As the knight stumbled out of the wooden carriage, unveiling his armored-up body to the air, he walked over to the clearly-tired horse, who's head and neck were lowered down to the ground. Rumpel remained inside, taking full advantage of the knight's generosity into letting him sleep in the carriage for tonight, until the morning. He curled up against the wall, with his yellow vest being squashed against his chin and his chest as he was literally curling up into a ball on his side on the seat.

As the knight started doing circles around the carriage, after patting the horse, the dark sky was filled with thick, dark clouds that were oddly spaced out enough for the moon to shine it's clear, milky light through with ease. The moon's lightening gave for a less-depressing mood in the night, but the clouds were closing in on it within the speed of a slug.

The darkness is closing in on what is currently a bright light, in which it too will become the darkness in a matter of time.


	7. Disappearance

**CHAPTER 7: Disappearance**

As the sun finally shone over the swamp, and ultimately, Shrek's home, the light had gone through the window-holes on the second floor, getting into the bedroom where Fiona and Shrek were situated. But that wasn't the source of their awakening, because, as per usual, Fergus, Farkle, and Felicia were all standing in front of their bed, just playing with each other. They had grown up significantly since they were last seen; they're still very young obviously, but they can talk better, and they can walk by themselves. They all had their little dolls that, when pressed with pressure, would emit a squeak noise, and they kept on doing this throughout the duration of them standing in front of Shrek and Fiona's bed.

"DADDY, WAKE UP!" Felicia yelled with a smile, which was subsequently followed by Farkle's similar yell of "MUMMY, GET UPP!"

Fiona and Shrek's eyes both opened slowly, initially seeing a fuzzy sight of each other from the deep sleep they had throughout the night, but instantly, their eyes were as clear as the sun's light was with it coming through the holes at the front of the house. Felicia, Farkle and Fergus had suddenly moved up to stand on the bed, jumping up and down with their cute, green heads as Fiona and Shrek slowly turned onto their backs on the bed to look at their three kids, energetically waking them up nice and early for the morning.

"Good morning" Fiona lightly said, rubbing her eyes briefly.

"Good mornin' to you'" Shrek said, leaning his elbow against his pillow to sit up to look at his three adorable kids as they couldn't contain their morning hyperactive mood.

Shrek, as always, felt amazing; he's became a changed orge, and not once has he felt like he misses the life he had before he started a family, thanks to the experience he had with Rumpelstiltskin. In fact, the new personality of Shrek completely killed the personality he had whilst he was with donkey when the two of them set off to rescue Fiona from the tower. He was a good father, and one who appreciated what he has more than ever.

"I'll sort em out, hunny" Fiona said, as she too leaned herself up from the bed.

Fiona climbed out of the bed first, in her white bed dress, as she kept a smile aimed towards the three child orges. Shrek remained on the bed, but he was looking out to the direction of the window-like hole where the sunlight was emerging. Fiona started taking Fergus, Farkle and Felicia down stairs to the ground floor, and when the bedroom became empty, Shrek lifted up the covers to unveil himself in his bed shorts, as his giant green orge body was pretty much like a mountain. He got up off the bed, and, curious about what he had heard last night, stood up and walked over towards the window-like hole, where he got a clear view of the front space of his house. He rubbed his eyes as he was being bombarded with the sun's bright and intrusive light, before they finally caught their ground. He looked out to the swamp below, just admiring the view as the outhouse was in the distance, just on the other side from where the house was. His eyes caught onto the small cage which was hooked onto a big root, but something wasn't right; it was empty, and Rumpelstiltskin was in there this time yesterday, and last night.

"Hold the phone..." Shrek said to himself, alarmed at the disappearance of Rumpelstiltskin, rushing to get his brown leather orge pants on, as well as his big white top with the brown covers on either side of it too.

As Fiona had provided the three child orges with their breakfast, she took one of the chairs and pushed it right into the table, before she could suddenly hear some sort of ruckus from the second floor. She was curious, and she was caught by surprise from the rapid, yet loud banging noises.

"HUNNY? ARE YOU OKAY UP THERE?" Fiona said, walking over towards the stairs, just staying put at the bottom of them, waiting for Shrek.

Without a warning, Shrek, suddenly dressed up in his classic and usual clothing, ran right down the stairs. He looked panicked, as if something was about to hit the house imminently.

"HUNNY?!" Fiona said, as Shrek sped right past her body.

Shrek made an opening for the door, wasting no time in pushing it open, and this caught his three kids off guard; as soon as the sunlight was exposed to the ground floor of the house from the front wooden door, Fiona, and eventually, Fergus, Farkle and Felicia had all traced him. They genuinely had no idea what was wrong with Shrek.

Shrek stopped in a horrified panic, realising that the cage itself is truly empty, meaning that Rumpel is out there again, somewhere, and from Shrek's experience with him, he's a dangerous little man who can come across as a kind person, but conceal what he's really like.

"Shrek? it's the morning, what's gotten into you?!" Fiona asked, with Shrek slowly turning to face Fiona as they were stood in front of the house completely.

Shrek needed no words for Fiona, so instead, he slowly backed up to unveil the empty cage to Fiona. She never really knew what Rumpelstiltskin did to Shrek, because she wasn't aware that he had nearly caused Shrek's existence to vanish, so pretty much, she was in the dark on the entire situation.

"Fiona..please don't tell me you let him out?!" Shrek pledged, raising his arm towards the cage briefly.

"Let who out? that little guy that you've kept in there for an entire YEAR?! No Shrek, I didn't, but why was he there in the first place? and-"

"No, Fiona, please listen, you...you don't understand, he's a darstly, nasty little man who nearly had me disappear from my entire existence...and...and if it wasn't for YOU, he would of succeeded, that's how close he came"

"Me? when did this happen, Shrek?" Fiona said, nodding her head as she asked the question, not recalling any sort of event that Shrek had described.

"True loves kiss saved me, Fiona, I was like...I was glowing..they were all yellow...my feet started disappearing, and it was HIM...HIM...who was behind it all, do you remember when I selfishly stormed out of Farkle's party last year?" Shrek said, getting stressed out by the second. "It was after that, where I took everything for granted...I...I nearly lost everything...Fiona...we have to look for him, we can't let him be free when he poses a danger to our kids?"

"Listen hunny, come inside, have a rest, and we'll discuss it later on? look, the kids are distracted from all of this panicking you're going through" Fiona said, pointing to Fergus, Farkle and Felicia as the three of them were stood in front of the front door, watching their mum and dad seemingly argue.

"Fiona, you have no idea how dangerous he is...he might be small, but he's always got one step ahead of everyone, and what if he stumbles across one of our kids? you know, I met him after I busted out of Farkle's party last year, and I was tricked into signing something I shouldn't have signed in the first place...our kids will fall for it, Fiona. You have to listen to me..."

"We'll discuss it inside, Shrek. I don't want the kids feeling worried and concerned when they've just woken up..come on, in we go.." Fiona said, turning her back to Shrek, and taking the orge kids back into the house.

Shrek looked back at the cage, and suspiciously looked all around the surrounding swamp near the house; he was really paranoid about Rumpel just hiding in the bushes and the trees of the swamp, like a predator waiting to leap out onto it's prey, in order to fool one of his kids into signing a contract of his. He reluctantly walked backwards, but slowly, before entirely turning his back to the morning atmosphere to walk back inside the wooden house.

**BACK WITH THE KNIGHT AND RUMPELSTILTSKIN**

Rumpelstiltskin rubbed his eyes as he slowly stepped out of the carriage, with the knight still awake since he had fallen asleep. Upon his tiny little body appearing from the hatch of the carriage, the knight smiled, and placed his sword into the sword pocket around his waist. The patrol knight's of Charming don't patrol in the day time, and like he said to Rumpel last night, he's going to go back to the base and tell Prince Charming the information that he's been handed by Rumpel.

"Morning, sire.." the knight formally greeted, looking up to the bright, yet somewhat cloudy sky.

"Ahh...I miss my Fifi so much..." Rumpel reluctantly said, looking at the ground as he was still trying to knock himself out of that just-woken-up phase.

"So, it's agreed, you do what my leader had requested, I'll head back now, and then we can bring you and the orges back to the base tonight, right?"

"I..uhhh...I really could do with some assistance..."

"Do this without it, and my leader will most likely consider you of a position that could rival his power, how about that, sire?"

That offer had sent a shock-wave through Rumpel's body that had instantly woke him up from the tired phase that we all experience from when we initially wake up in the morning. He leaned against the wooden carriage as the horse was huffing and puffing, but it seemed to have closed it's eyes for some time during the night.

"I'll try..at least.." Rumpel said, absolutely loving the prospect of being like Charming; served by knights, and has the potential to invade a certain kingdom one day.

"Riiight, I best head off then..." the knight declared, walking towards Rumpel, in which he was heading for the small hatch entrance inside the carriage.

Rumpel, completely clueless, looked on as the knight had walked past his tiny body, in which the knight had stepped one leg up and into the carriage, eventually shoving his entire, armoured-up body into the thing. He slowly closed the hatch, but there was a window in the hatch, which was basically a hole in the wood, where you could look out; the knight took advantage of this to let Rumpel in on something very briefly.

"I'm sure my leader will be delighted to know that his potential second-in-command has a lot in common with his majesty, no?" the knight asked, briefly raising the pitch of his voice halfway through his sentence.

"I uh..I guess..." Rumpel said, scratching his left arm, as he looked sideways for a moment.

The knight had moved his head back into the carriage, leaving Rumpel to look at the entire structure of the carriage itself; black, but big wheels situated with a hut-like structure for the person travelling to sit inside it, baring a somewhat-pyramid shape towards the top. Without a warning, though, the horse let off it's call, before suddenly running forwards whilst it was attached to the carriage, and in turn, the big black wheels had suddenly started rotating rapidly as it was moving over the grass. Off it went, leaving Rumpel stranded once again in the near-swamp vicinity, but even though the knight just now had pledged to Rumpel that if he does this, he'll be rewarded, he still had no clue on how he'll get Shrek and the rest to come back to this spot, where the carriage will be by tonight. His best bet was to just go back towards Shrek's house, not getting caught, obviously, and just come up with some stealthy, clever little tactic that'll lure the orge back to the base, where his old arch-nemesis, Charming, is waiting rather impatiently for the orge's return to his presence after over a year.


	8. Paranoia trip

**CHAPTER 8: Paranoia trip**

Nothing but paranoia was running through the mind of Shrek, who had a ton of skepticism surrounding the walk that he, Fiona and his children, Fergus, Farkle and Felicia were about to go on through their swamp. Shrek stood up after getting the boots onto his children, just unable to avoid moving his head to every single direction; it looked pretty odd for an orge of his strength to be behaving this way, but it's a natural way of reacting to somebody escaping who's as dangerous as Rumpelstiltskin. Shrek isn't remotely aware either that Prince Charming, all of this time, has had his own little-power-base nearby, where he claims that the land that SHREK AND HIS FAMILY LIVE ON is his own, and that anybody who walks on it during the night will be delivered to him as a prisoner of his camp. It's happened with Captain Hook, and it happened to Rumpel before he and Charming agreed to a deal to team up, but who's to say that it won't happen to Shrek during one random night?

"Hunny, you look...you look worried...what's the matter?" Fiona said, suspecting Shrek's expressions to be that of somebody who is genuinely scared of going outside the house into the swamp.

"Well no, Fiona, of course not! not after I had just reminded you of the devilish little man that's running around this area!" Shrek said, referring to Rumpel once again.

"Okay, listen, if we see him, we'll try and talk something over, alright?" Fiona replied, as she leaned down to pick up Fergus.

"No, Fiona, if we see him, I'll be the one to knock his punchable little nose in..and then maybe we'll lock him into the highest room in the tallest tower, where you once were?"

"Don't say that in front of the kids, Shrek. Not only are you encouraging violence, but I'd rather not have them be curious about me being locked up at that tower. Come on, hunny, we'll have a good time-" she was caught off from the sound of multiple footsteps being heard outside, and in turn, Shrek gulped a little bit at the door.

The wooden door of Shrek's house had slammed open, where Donkey, alongside his Dronkey's, had instantly emerged into. It looked like Dragon wasn't here, though, so it seemed like it was just Donkey with his kids.

"MORNIN TO YA'LL..." Donkey yelled, in his incredibly obnoxious voice.

"Oh uh, hey there, Donkey" Fiona laughed, not expecting Donkey to be here already.

Shrek was angry at Donkey for one specific reason; the footsteps that he had emitted when he was walking up to the door from the outside made the Orge think for a moment it was Rumpel himself. Things didn't get better, however. The Dronkey's had suddenly pelted themselves in through the open door, which caused Shrek to stress out as they were trying to shoot flames at each other. They were slightly bigger, but for the most part, they were unchanged. Dragons like the size of Dragon herself take a long time to grow, after all.

"NO, DONKEY!" Shrek yelled, sending a fright through Fergus, Farkle and Felicia, as the Dronkey's themselves stopped flying after they had returned to Donkey's side.

"WOAH, What's happenin' with you there, Shrek? has he not had one of his eyeballs today, Fiona-"

"DONKEY, Listen very carefully to me, alright? the last thing I need is your BURDEN of a mouth running blood through my EARS! I'm stressed out enough as it is..."

"Woah woah okay, I get what's happening here...who's took his onions?!" Donkey laughed, with Shrek not looking amused.

Fiona quickly got in the way, as she could see that Shrek's reactions here were far from fake, and instead, they were genuine.

"Woah woah, listen uh, Donkey, Shrek's just worried...I think it'd be best if the tone was uh...lowered down a bit for now, hey?"

"Sure thing, Princess, TONE IT DOWNNN..." Donkey yelled, walking his hooves back to the outside, in front of Shrek's house, where the Dronkey's had followed him.

"We should have our heads examined, Fiona.." Shrek admitted, raising his big green palms over to Donkey's direction, referring to the conclusion that they're all insane for actually being friends with Donkey.

"YO SHREK, WHAT'S WITH THIS EMPTY DANGLIN' CAGE YOU'VE GOT HANGIN' AT YOUR HOUSE?!" Donkey echoed, with Shrek sighing at the loudness of him, but nonetheless, Shrek felt like he needed to make everyone aware of the situation.

Shrek had walked out of the swamp house with his typical pace. Farkle and Felicia had followed their dad behind him, as Fiona still held Fergus. They all walked out of the house, where Donkey was genuinely raising his eyebrows at the cage, because he thought for sure that there used to be a person inside it. Once the entirety of Shrek's family had gotten to the outside, Shrek couldn't help but diverge his eyes across to the direction of the outhouse, and the swamp surrounding the house in general, just to make sure that Rumpelstiltskin wasn't hiding anywhere. For all he knows, he could be perfectly concealed somewhere amongst the swamp whilst watching Shrek and his family just now.

"This is exactly what I'm talkin' about, you see, Donkey?" Shrek, in a condescending tone, had said. "The guuy in hereee tried to kill meee, hence why I'm worrriedddd, got itt?" he added, furthering his condescending voice.

"Why'd you let him out?"

"Why would IIII...let him out?! come on Donkey, think inside that little brain of yours..." Shrek said, patting Donkey's head sarcastically.

"Like I said, Shrek, he doesn't pose a single threat to us or our family...let's just get on with what we're gonna do...we'll take the kids he-"

"AND ME AND MY BABIES!" Donkey intrusively added, with Fiona sighing ever so slightly.

"Yess...and Donkey can come along, and let's just try and forget about this, this...this entire conspiracy, okay?"

Shrek wasn't so sure. The signs at the moment point towards the prospect that Rumpel's possibly ran off to another bit of land entirely, to the point that he no longer intends on sticking near here. However, he knows what Rumpel is like; he can be very stealthy or very deceiving. Not that Shrek knew he was there at the time, but when Rumpel was hiding behind the large bin whilst observing Shrek and Fiona arguing, after Shrek had smashed Farkle's cake from the time that he wanted to 'feel like a real orge again', the fact that Shrek didn't notice Rumpel at all pretty much spoke for itself; Rumpelstiltskin can make an area look like nobody is in it, but the truth is, it'd be him, with his stealthy and dangerous hiding skills, in it.

"Alright, but I'm holding their hands, Fiona..." Shrek conclusively stated, not wanting either of his kids to wander off into the swamp, where they'd potentially be approached by Rumpel.

Donkey and his Dronkey babies had tagged along with Shrek, Fiona and their children on their walk. Not that that bothered Fiona, but at a time where Shrek's paranoia is at an all-time-high, even for an orge, he really didn't want to put up with Donkey's obnoxious ways. Of course, they've been friends for ages and have been through a lot together in the past, but that didn't mean that Shrek still didn't find him to be the most annoying friend anyone could ask for. Walking towards the direction of the outhouse to get into the swamp directly, Shrek wasn't aware at all that Rumpel's disappearance was linked to another old rival of his, one, who's arguably just as dangerous as Rumpel at this point; maybe even more; Prince Charming. It'll be a team-up of the deadliest manner.


	9. The stranger

**CHAPTER 9: The stranger**

"Daddy, why are you not letting me walk anywhere else?" Felicia said, out of fustration for the fact that Shrek was ensuring that they weren't wandering off.

"Daddy needs to make sure you don't walk elsewhere, sweetie..." Shrek said, accommodating his voice lower to suit that of talking to a youngster.

As Felicia was walking amongst her two brothers, Fergus and Farkle, she was noticeably getting annoyed from feeling so restricted, but the reality is, she doesn't understand why Shrek's doing it. He's doing it because he want's to make sure that Rumpelstiltskin doesn't pop out from anywhere amongst here and grab one of them.

"Why are you hurting my hand, daddy?" Felicia asks, as Shrek was, unintentionally, holding her hand to the point that it felt like he was crushing it.

Shrek sighed at his daughter's interrogative tone all of a sudden, and he expressed his disapproval of her constantly being curious in his response.

"Because maybe I'm doing it for your own good, right? just let me keep you safe.."

"H-Hunny? take it easy, she's only asking you.." Fiona said, stopping in her path, as did Donkey and his babies.

"Felicia sweetie, you haven't got a clue on what's going on...nor do you, Fiona...in fact, donkey..you don't either, you have no idea what I'm feeling like..."

"Daddy, I'm getting angry at this...just let me walk..."

"For the last time Felicia.." Shrek's head was blowing up inside; the stress and paranoia of Rumpel's escape from the cage was causing him to easily get angered, "you are NOT wandering off without me...do you understand?"

"Shrek, I think you should go back to the house..." Fiona said, turning her orge-self entirely around to Shrek.

"I'm genuinely surprised at that, Fiona, what, do you wanna risk our kid's lives or something?"

"Sorry?" Fiona asked, confused at what point Shrek was trying to make.

"Well you're the one who wanted us to go on this walk.." Shrek said, raising his big orge hands up as he said that, in the midst of being at a hilly point of the forest, as they were moving away from the swamp.

"Our kids don't deserve to be isolated from the outside, Shrek. If you don't like it, then so be it, but they deserve a walk about, and I don't intend on keeping them inside the house all day, alright?"

Donkey walked ever so slowly, with his hooves, to the side of Fiona as his Dronkey kids remained where he was previously stood at, exchanging confused looks at one another due to the somewhat-hostile atmosphere generating amongst the orges themselves.

"Ya Shrek, you oughta calm your big green butt down, you know? I mean, my babies and I love doin this...don't be th-"

"Donkey...donkey...your babies are NOT mine, alright? look Fiona, this is risky...if you wanna risk our kid's chances, then so be it. Felicia, Fergus, Farkle, you're all staying by my side, alright?"

Fiona couldn't believe how Shrek was acting; he wasn't doing it intentionally though, he was simply doing it out of his heart, because he genuinely wanted to ensure that what happened with him and Rumpel doesn't happen with his kids. Little does he know though, that in the distance, somewhere, Prince Charming is also within the mix. Fergus, Farkle, but Felicia especially, had all groaned as they looked up to their mother, rather than Shrek.

"Come on Donkey, let's just try and forget about it all..." Fiona declared, with Donkey giving off a face of uncertainty as to what to do, but he still walked by Fiona anyways.

"Stop pulling my hand back..." Shrek said, as Felicia had tried to pull her hand out of Shrek's one.

"No, I won't, daddy, you're mean to me..."

"If by being mean to ya means I'm protecting you, you can say whatever you want..."

"I hate you..." and thus, Shrek suddenly halted, as did Fiona and Donkey, once again.

Shrek looked down at Felicia as soon as she uttered that sentence, that dreaded sentence. It broke Shrek's heart secretly, because the last thing he wanted was to be hated by his kids, especially after when he destroyed that cake from Farkle's birthday party. He suddenly moved his big green orge hands up onto his face, closing his eyes in the process, before slowly moving his big green palms down. He had refreshed himself.

"I'm sorry Felicia...but I have to still make sure that you're safe, alright?" the change in tone within his voice was of a noticeable thing to Fiona particularly.

"Come over here, Felicia.." she said, ducking down slightly, as Felicia happily skipped over to Fiona, as did Fergus and Farkle.

"Shrek...you need to learn to not be as destructive or as paranoid as you seem to be..."

"I-..." Shrek was lost for words, as he slowly started walking behind Fiona and Donkey.

Now Rumpelstiltskin was at a coincidence here, because on the very day that he has to try and drag one of the orges (from what he's trying to recall what Charming had requested anyways) back to the carriage and ultimately, deliver them to his base, he was wandering in the exact same area of this hilly forest that Shrek and his family were walking at. He was mumbling to himself as he stared down at the grass, just trying to come up with a way as to luring them for Prince Charming. At the same time though, secretly, he was criticising Charming's stupid mindset, thinking that a guy like Rumpel himself, at his size, could lure a big gigantic orge back, especially after the history that he and Shrek have.

"Stupid luring tactic...how-AHH!" he quietly yelled, as he heard a bunch of voices emerging to the direction of the left.

Rumpel couldn't think straight whilst trying to hide himself from a threat, so he quickly ran over to the nearest bush and he dived right into it, getting poked and hurt from all of the nettles that were in it. He stopped himself from reacting with his voice to the stinging sensations of the nettles, but they were very hard NOT to react to. Rumpel, managing to cope with the pain, as it felt like the one where the area that's been hit by the nettle is all tickly and a mixture of pain, saw a bunch of green faces and figures, along with a grey-looking donkey and...some sort of small flying pets, as they resembled the Donkey in his greyness. He gasped at being this lucky to catch Shrek's path, but man, did it feel all painful to be in this bush.

"I mean...we could try Duloc?" Shrek said, with Donkey, Fiona and his kids once again stopping.

"What, Duloc, Shrek? you mean that fancy big place you and I first went to when you tried bashin me about onions, huh?"

"I di-...y-yeah..."

As they were talking, they weren't aware that the very tiny dwarf that Shrek's been warning them about this entire time, was only a couple of steps away; much to the concealed nature of his body though from hiding out in the bush.

"Shrek, you jump from one to the other...you hurt Felicia's feelings just now with your over protection, and now you wanna go there? it just seems strange how you've suddenly come to that point.."

"Oh come on Fiona, the thing is, I want them to be safe, I don't want them to be snatched by some deceiving little man, alright?"

"You keep bringing up this little man of yours...there's no little man, alright? for crying out loud, Shrek, get a grip on yourself.."

"FIONA, I WAS NEARLY BANISHED FROM EXISTENCE, OKAY?!" Shrek yelled, in which all his kids backed up stand behind Fiona, but Felicia remained exposed a bit more.

"Woah amigo, shouting doesn't create helping" Puss said, catching up with the lot of them from behind Shrek; he had trailed behind them this entire time.

"Oh for cryin' out loud you guys, it's the orange pussy cat..." Donkey laughed.

"You ain't exactly no cat, ehy? you're more like a deranged uh...-" Puss said, before being interrupted.

"JUST...ENOUGH...Look Puss..." Shrek once again yelled, with Puss marching in his black boots and his belt over towards Fiona's direction, "I don't need another nuisance on my side, alright? wh-how did you even find us?"

"Come on boss, you think I cannot catch any of you out easily?"

"M-mummy...why's daddy shouting?! I HATE HIM!" Felicia said, shouting that phrase louder, and as Rumpel was watching the clear hostility between them all, he couldn't help but look at Felicia the most.

Shrek realised what he's doing; he's literally yelling constantly, and causing Fiona to stress out, and he's making a bad name of himself in front of his kids. When Puss had got here just now after barely tracing them throughout this forest, he didn't think anything was up, but clearly, something is.

"Come on kids, let's just-" As Fiona turned to the direction in front of herself, a bunch of snappings of sticks could be heard, and this got to Shrek particularly.

"W-What is that?!" Donkey said, unable to catch the sight of the source of the snapping sticks.

Shrek rapidly rushed over to Fiona's side, as Felicia clearly avoided being near him, and instead, she remained besides Fiona. As the group watched on with anticipation as to the source of the snapping sticks, a messed up, bundled head of hair had popped out from behind the tree trunk nearest to them, and when he walked out, this person's clothes were ripped in his knees, his top was ripped lower down, but he still had some boots on, and he looked generally like a normal human. He was surprised to find this group here...and all these creatures didn't scare him at all.

"It-It's somebody?" Puss said, with Donkey placing a hoof over his tiny cat mouth, in which Puss simply whispered, after pushing it off, "i don't wanna catch whatever you're holding, amigo.."

Fiona looked at this guy with curiosity, as he seemed to be studying them.

"Hey there...are you lost?" she said, talking to him as if he was some sort of pet.

Shrek was standing besides Fiona and Fergus, Farkle and Felicia with a firm stance to protect them. This human guy had raised an eyebrow at the orge and that orange cat who was wearing...a cape? boots? and a hat? could talk? he was genuinely confused. Fiona extended her green orge hands out to the guy, who looked at it and back to her face.

"Well I ain't some sort of ANIMAL if that's what you think?"

Fiona was caught by surprise, and in a way, she flinched at his surprisingly-normal voice. She moved her green orge hand back from him, as she looked at Shrek briefly.

"Oh uh, s-sorry?" she said, laughing slightly.

The human looked at them all as if he had seen them before, but Rumpelstiltskin was still hiding in the bushes, watching the gathering occurring before himself; he was getting excited; that Felicia orge, he's decided, would be the one he'd take back to the base, because clearly, she hates Shrek, and Rumpel himself acknowledged that from not only her body language, but her explicitly yelling it just now.

"Are you all aware?" the human asked.

"O-Of what?" Fiona asked, as Donkey left an open mouth, trying to figure out who this guy was, but his ripped clothes and his messy hair seemed to imply that he perhaps comes from a ruined village.

"Call me Blay, and uh, uh.." Blay couldn't bring himself into talking about what he want's to discuss with the talking donkey, the talking cat, the dragon, yet donkey-looking things and the orges (from his perspective) about what he's experienced, and instead, he wanted to be at his shelter before talking with them about it, "further in.." he said, pointing to the direction behind his back.

Blay started walking forwards, and Fiona seemed to reluctantly follow, but Shrek grabbed her shoulder gently.

"F-Fiona, what're you doing?!"

"Princess, Shrek has a point...how would ya'll know that this guy isn't some sort of iffy?" Donkey said, standing up with his Dronkey's.

"H-He's seems okay?"

"He's a stranger...you don't consider STRANGERS to be 'okay' especially under the circumstances that we're all in?!" Shrek said, in response to Fiona's claim that he seems 'okay'.

Blay walked backwards, after overhearing the brief argument, with a raised eyebrow.

"Everything alright?" he asked, with the group unable to confess that some of them don't trust him.

"Y-Yeah, b-Bay or Blay, we were just talking.." Fiona said, with her secretly gesturing for Shrek to follow her.

"It's better to be safe than sorry, of course.." Blay said, looking around the trees and the background, before proceeding to walk forwards again.

Shrek looked around with his big orge head, unable to understand what this Blay guy was hinting at, but it didn't make him any more comfortable, since Rumpel's still out there somewhere. Fiona looked back at Puss, Donkey, and their children.

"He means out here..." she said, understanding Blay's body language just now.

Reluctantly, the entire group started walking behind Blay, as he seemingly felt inclined to protect them all from whatever he's talking about. As Shrek's eyes were planted firmly on a bush, he wasn't aware that he was looking DIRECTLY at Rumpelstiltskin, who had just gathered a ton of crucial information just now from hiding out and watching the entire commotion; he knows who he's going to bring back to Charming; that small, female orge of Shrek's, and he knows that they'll potentially be heading to a place called 'Duloc', something he can tell Charming if it's needed. He was still aching in pain though, from hiding out in the bush.

"Come on...we don't wanna be caught out here after night fall.." Blay said, with Fiona and Shrek looking at each other, shrugging their shoulders as Shrek was clearly calmed down from the peaceful atmosphere Blay was providing.


	10. Backstory

**CHAPTER 10: Backstory**

Blay led the entire group through the hilly forest, much further from Shrek's swamp, to what was an open-looking field, but in the distance, there was a collection of buildings; they were all dark from the open-window parts, and it looked as if the village itself was abandoned. Blay continued to guide them, as Shrek was still slightly unsure as to trust the guy. As they walked behind Blay, they could notice the village for themselves; this was the same village that used to have those villagers, who initially tried to attack Shrek all those years ago before he started taunting them about orges liking things like jelly from the eyeballs, in it.

"Ahh, blimey, looks like he's got something cooking, perhaps another cooked rabbit?"

"Ahem, a-amigo, a rabbit you say?" Puss said, catching Blay off guard quite significantly.

Blay stopped in his path, as he turned to the orange cat who was dressed much like a human with his black boots and his cape.

"I-I'm sorry, since when do cats talk...?" Blay asked, looking up at Shrek and Fiona particularly.

"You might have seen that cat talk, but I bet you've never seen a Donkey talk, huh?!" Donkey said, showing off his ability to talk.

Blay looked up at Shrek as if he looked concerned, but Shrek simply started walking towards the human, where Blay was surprisingly keeping his cool. Shrek's heavy orge arms were swaying in line with every single step he was taking.

"Welcome to my life..." Shrek said, referring to having to cope with the likes of Donkey.

"Oh uh, do you guys not get on, then?" Blay asked, getting distracted from heading to the abandoned village that he and, according to his comment previously, another companion of his live in.

"Yeah yeah, but it's just a family feud I guess..."

"Yeah, it's typically a feud of who's tryna keep the kids safer, haha..." Shrek laughed, not getting a single reaction.

"A-Ah...I see, well uh, there's a reason why I've been hurrying up with the trip, because uh, it's dangerous out here at night..."

They started walking again, with Shrek feeling more comfortable about Blay's presence; as long as it wasn't a tiny dwarf who has a history of scamming his victims with magical contracts, any human was alright for Shrek to communicate with.

"So what exactly...are you doing out here? why's it so dangerous at night?"

"You don't know? I'll tell you later, it's too open for us to remain here...they could do a morning check for all we know..."

"You keep referring to 'they'...who's they?" Shrek asked, noticing Blay's voice becoming deeper at the mentioning of that very word, they.

"I'll tell you when we get into safety, just come on down for now..." Blay said, checking the collection of trees that the group was moving from, as if he was ensuring that a collection of people weren't coming after them.

Rumpelstiltskin was limping in his tiny boots from hanging out in all of those nettles, but Prince Charming's desire for him to lure Shrek back to the carriage so the orge can be taken to the base was at the top of his mind. The deal-maker stopped once the forest had cut to an open-field, where, upon looking out to it in the morning atmosphere, he could see Shrek and his gang follow that stranger he's just seen.

"WHY CAN'T THE DAY GO QUICKER, ARGHH!" Rumpel screamed to himself, recalling what that knight who had dropped him off here had said; he won't be coming back here in the carriage until night time, so Rumpel himself can have all day to try and lure the orges back.

This is mainly why the dangerous dwarf is intent on luring Felicia back to the carriage instead; he was certain that Charming had said AN orge, so if he brings one of Shrek's kids to the base, perhaps, Charming will be satisfied enough to utilise holding her hostage so Shrek can be forced to physically go to the base himself. Rumpelstiltskin looked all around himself, as he could what he thought was Fifi; but it was nothing of the sort. It was simply a bird flying by, chirping as it ascended past the trees and above.

The group had all walked into the village, and you could practically hear the ambiences of all the insides of the buildings; they've been long abandoned, and some of the buildings looked destroyed. When they all noticed this, they felt as if Blay was up to something. Blay simply looked to one of the buildings, in which it was the one that had previously contained numerous pints of booze until whatever led to the state the village is in now happened.

"BLAY?! IS THAT YOU?!" Another strong voice had yelled, as another stranger, with ripped clothes of a different colouration, had walked out from the building that used to hold the booze, "ARE YOU NOT AWARE THAT THEY MIGHT BE DOING MORNING CHECKS-" he was cut off from the sight of the green orges, a donkey, a cat that was...wearing boots? and a bunch of small, donkey-looking flying things.

"O-oh..." the companion said, with Blay simply raising his arm towards Shrek and the lot with a smile, "this is certainly not those knights...oh...my god...you found these orges yourself, huh?" he asked Blay, in which Blay nodded.

"Yeah, but uh...just so you know..." suddenly, Blay and this other stranger had moved in closer, in which Blay had covered his mouth from Shrek and the group as he started whispering something to him.

"O-oh, really? how could they not? oh uh, ahem, forgive me for the rudeness, you guys, it's just surreal to see this...this type of thing, haha...now hang on a minute..." he said, walking closer to Shrek, as he seemed to recognise the orge from somewhere, "you're the beast that me and my group tried to attack, right?"

"I'm not a beast, I don't eat people, got it? and I probably was that 'beast'" Shrek said, shrugging as he had a half-arsed expression in himself.

"Trust me, a LOT of bad things have happened around here, so I'm far from scared of you anymore, but uh, what're we doing standing out here, actually? come inside, and we'll see if we can get you something to eat, I'm sure you kids are starving, hey? and we can provide you a uhm...an information service, if you will.." he said, walking back to the booze building.

Blay pointed at his companion, laughing, as he looked at Fiona and Shrek.

"Oh, uh, call me Twart, by the way.." he said, finally walking inside the building.

"After you guys, then..." Blay said, standing besides the door to the building.

"See, hunny? this isn't so bad, hey?" Fiona said, letting Fergus, Farkle and Felicia be the first ones to enter the building.

"I'm not so sure, Fiona, but I guess it's alright.."

"Lighten up, Shrek, we're about to get ourselves some free service! YUM YUM!" Donkey energetically spouted.

"I could do myself with some milk, amigo.." Puss said, as he walked past Blay's body besides the door, with Blay still unable to comprehend the talking donkey AND cat.

The dronkey's had subsequently flew inside after Donkey, and as the last batch of bodies had finally walked in, Blay checked out the surrounding area; he acknowledged that those knights never check this village, because in their eyes, nobody is here any longer due to it's abandoned state. He let out an air of relieve as he acknowledged that; he walked inside the building, and he shut the door slowly, not knowing that a tiny dwarf in Rumpelstiltskin was nearing, in which he's got an alliance with the source of those knights that he and Twart have witnessed.

The wall in which the entrance to this place was closest to was covered with a bunch of empty barrels, piled upon one another with their emptiness. It made the inside of here feel surprisingly smaller, given how thick the barrels themselves were. Outside of the building, Twart had a bunch of logs piled together to cook up a rabbit that he and Blay had caught; hunting was obviously nothing unusual for the duo, especially given the circumstance they were in. Twart, as Blay and Shrek and the group had got closer to the village minutes ago, had transferred the cooked rabbit to the long wooden table nearer the middle of the room, so it was a coincidence; the rabbit was not only transferred here, but it was cooked in time for Shrek's arrival.

"Cooked rabbit, you orges like those, huh? or do you still like the foul things you claimed to like when my group did an intrusive raid at your swamp, huh?"

"I like myself the odd eyeball, but I've had cooked rat before, so of course I'm gonna eat this here rabbi-"

"Uh, Shrek? you need to save some for the kids, as well?" Fiona said, as she didn't look too happy at Shrek's willingness to eat the entire rabbit without considering the hunger of his kids.

"Sorry about that, we didn't anticipate a whole bunch of new guests coming here. But I would of imagined that Blay here would have at least caught more rabbits whilst he was at the forest just now..."

"Lay off me, things happened.." Blay claimed, with Twart simply shrugging his shoulders.

Puss approached Twart, as he still found it hard to comprehend that this here cat could actually TALK.

"You do not happen to contain milk anywhere around here, comrade?" he asked, with Twart looking like he was smiling, at the reality that he's now about to talk to a cat.

"It's just water..if anything, uh...yeah.." Twart said, unable to take it in that he's talking to a TALKING cat.

Puss slightly groaned at that; he needed milk; it was like his life, but he'd have to cope with water. One curious question that was running rampant throughout Shrek and Fiona's mind is why these guys, in a village of numerous buildings, were the only ones here, and in turn, why they seemed so low on food and a bunch of other essentials. Clearly, something had happened of a deadly magnitude. Blay and Twart had carefully cut up the cooked rabbit to ensure that it was evenly distributed amongst the orges, leaving Donkey, Puss and the Dronkey's out; Donkey was particularly hungry, but he's had a willingness to hold his hunger in the past, so he's resorted to doing that again. Puss still wanted his milk. Whilst Fergus, Farkle and Felicia were getting stuck in on the cooked rabbit, Twart and Blay sat opposite the entire group on the long wooden table; the candles around the room had barely lit it up, but it was enough for everyone to see each other clearly.

"What's gotten into this place? and what's with your tiny amount of...food and everything?" Fiona asked, as she sat down next to Shrek and the kids.

This was a question that had caused Shrek, Donkey, Puss and even the Dronkey's to look directly at both Blay and Twart, but the two of them began mumbling between each other.

"D-Do you wanna tell em?" Blay asked.

"Why don't we both tell em?" Twart said, with Blay nodding.

"You...you have no idea what's going on around here, do you?" Blay asked, as he had his arms curled up on the wooden table.

Blay and Twart had willingly allowed themselves to starve for the sake of the orge's getting food; they can just go hunting again later.

"Well...we haven't exactly been out for very long?" Shrek said, in a satire-sounding tone.

"Take it easy, we're doing you, your family, and uh, your talking friends there a service in giving you food"

"Okay, how can I put this to you...uh, we have been eradicated of this village from some other folks.."

Shrek and Fiona looked at each other with a bunch of raised eyebrows.

"H-Huh?" Shrek said, unable to understand what their point was.

"We're no longer able to be with the people who used to live here..."

"W-What?" Donkey asked, as he too was confused.

"THEY'RE STUCK IN AN ISOLATED PLACE WITH NO HOPE?!" Twart said, exclaiming and emphasising that utterance.

"W-We're still not getting ya..." Donkey said, with, shockingly, Shrek AGREEING with Donkey for the first time in ages.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, you're gonna have to just tell us what the point is...we need to be back home fairly soon, as well, for the safety of our kids..." Shrek went on to add.

Twart raised his hands up whilst looking at Blay, allowing his arms to slap against his sides as he looked baffled at them not being able to understand, but Blay acknowledged that the two of them should perhaps be specific in what they're talking about. It was such a sensitive and dangerous situation that they were beating around the bush with it.

"Alright, look..." Blay said, making an expression with his hands, "basically, everybody we knew...it was dark times, you guys, dark dark times...everything that this village had...from resources to weaponry...it was all taken...we were bombarded by horse-riding knights...who...who didn't seem to have a glimpse of mercy...they just...grabbed everybody they could, they stole everything from the weaponry, to the food, to the general supplies of this village...and they ruthlessly took away the people we came to know the most...but where they went, me and Twart here have agreed NOT to speak of specifically...but it's a place that'll spell out doom, should you ever be captured...it's...we don't even know if they're alive anymore...but me and Twart managed to hide out during the entire invasion, so now, because the knights are under the mindset that this village is completely empty and abandoned and destroyed, they never bother to come here during their night patrols, meaning that me and Twart here have a safe hide-out whilst we recover from it all...and what's worse? we know who the leader of that gang of rebels is...he-we cannot speak his name.."

"Woah woah, what are you talking about, what do you mean, night patrols?"

"Do you just come from somewhere where the knights never check, or something? whoever they see 'trespassing' on the land at night, they ultimately capture, and get taken away to...that place.." Twart said.

"Fiona, we came here for a nice relaxing walk, we didn't come here to be told that this was a dangerous idea after all.." Shrek said, with the paranoia inside the orge suddenly increasing after hearing that there's knights who capture those at night.

"I'm sure we can be safe here for the rest of the day, I mean uh, it'd be nice to get out of the house for once, and we've come to know these guys pretty well, right?" Fiona said.

"I'd advise though, that you all return to wherever you came from before the sky strikes night time...you HAVE to.." Twart said.

"So are you telling us...that me and my family are living next to a bunch of rebels or something?" Shrek said, unusually looking concerned.

"I mean...you haven't even told us where you've came from, so we have no right in saying whether or not that's true. But on the flip side, you can walk freely during the day, they literally only patrol during the night time...and also...their leader...is on the move..." Twart said, with his voice moving into a whisper as he mentioned 'the leader'.

There was a silence suddenly, as Felicia was the first one to have finished her cooked rat. Because everybody was so keen in finding out more about this whole 'knight' thing, they didn't pay attention to Felicia suddenly getting off her seat with a desire to just walk outside. As she crept towards the door past the numerous barrels, she was about to be in for a surprising appearance.

Rumpelstiltskin was as cautious as ever; inside the building he's standing besides is Shrek and all his family, and if they see him, it's back into the dangling cage, so he was extremely on edge. He suddenly heard the door open, and he instantly leaped backwards off his tiny feet to fall onto his back; he began shivering slightly at the prospect of being seen by whoever just left the building of this village. Little does he know, however, that it's the kid of Shrek's that he's precisely looking to lure back to the carriage later tonight.


	11. Rumpelstiltskin's offer

**CHAPTER 11: Rumpelstiltskin's offer**

Felicia stepped out of the building as her brothers, her farther and her mother, as well as Donkey, Puss and the dronkey's were all distracted with wanting to know more about the so-called 'knights' that 'patrol the night'. Rumpelstiltskin stood up slowly, from his lower back, and he crept alongside the wall of the building; if it was Shrek, he'd make a dart back to the forest to avoid being seen, because if he's seen by the orge he want's dead, his promise to Charming will be one that he won't be able to deliver any longer.

The second his deal-making eyes pinpointed Felicia's small green orge head just looking all around the surrounding vicinity, it was as if there was a pot of gold in front of him; he could tell it was Felicia from that bit of hair on the top of her head. The reason why he looked at her in this manner was because, when he was hiding out in the bush just now, he had concluded that the female child orge would be the one he'll lure back to the carriage, and in turn, back to Charming's base. He exposed his tiny body out from behind the wall, still keeping a close eye out in case anybody steps outside of the door to see him. He needed to convince her.

"Oh uh, ahem...hey there, little orge girl?" Rumpelstiltskin said, holding his hands together as he was putting on a cheerful smile.

Felicia was caught by surprise to see Rumpelstiltskin, and to her, because she's never heard of him before, nor does she have any idea on the type of person he is, she saw him as a friend.

"You look funny! hahaha!" Felicia laughed, with her laughing sounding loud.

"SHHH! Be quiet! you can't tell anybody I'm here, okay?! I'll...I'll be dead if you do...and..." Rumpelstiltskin wanted to manipulate the mind of Felicia's childish head to make her keep her mouth shut, "you don't want me to die, do you?" he said, in the softest, quietest, slowest way imaginable.

"No no, I don't like it! but I don't like my daddy either! he's a meanie!"

"Oh...I'm sure we can relate on that..." he said, making a sly reference with a mischievous face before returning it to normal, "but why don't I take you somewhere away from him later then, huh? you can escape the harshness of living the life with Shrek being your dad...and I can ensure that your suffering will pay off...huuh?" he said, in a condescending tone.

"I'd like that! where are we going?!" Felicia said, before making a shushing gesture with her finger to her mouth, remembering that she has to be quiet, otherwise this friend of hers will 'die' if anybody knows he's here.

"Well uh...there's the problem, dear little orge...we can only go there at night, so uh, why don't you pop back to this exact same spot we're at now, at night time, and then I'll be able to take you there at that point, does that sound good?" Rumpelstiltskin asked, with his fingers secretly crossed.

"Of course! I can't wait to tell-"

"Nononono! this is our secret, cute, little orge...you cannot tell ANYBODY otherwise we'll be...in trouble, okay? it's a secreeettt..." Rumpelstiltskin's sudden descent in his voice to suit that of a little child was discomforting, to say the least, and it's shown just how deceiving he can be.

"A secret! I can do that!" Felicia said, smiling with her green orge face.

"This will work out perfectly...so I'm going to go back now, okay? remember, don't tell anybody about what we've discussed, okay?"

"I promise!"

"FELICIA?!" Shrek yelled from the inside, with Rumpelstiltskin's body instantly turning into the retreat mode at the sound of Shrek's powerful voice.

Shrek rushed out the door to see Felicia just standing there, and Rumpelstiltskin had JUST managed to escape being seen by him. He wasn't happy at all that Felicia's just had the willingness to wander off without the consent of himself or Fiona.

"Felicia, this is what I've told you! you DON'T wander off! come back inside with daddy and mummy..." Shrek said, with Felicia still not liking him as much for what he did earlier.

Shrek gently walked Felicia back into the building as she recalled what that tiny little guy had said just now; no telling on what secret they have. As a result, she didn't speak a word of it. When Shrek walked back into the room, Twart and Blay looked on with a surprised expression. What Felicia doesn't know is that now, she's potentially spelt an isolation for herself when she get's to Charming's base.

"What happened there?" Blay asked, as they were still sat across the table.

"Oh, it's just Felicia here having a desire to risk herself...nothing new, honestly.." Shrek said, looking at Felicia with a disappointing face.

"Haha, I guess orge children are exactly like human children then, haha, interesting..." Blay laughed, with Twart slightly nudging him, signalling that they should perhaps reveal to the group who the leader of all of those knights that invaded this village is.

"How do you all know about this, then?" Shrek asked, after making sure that Felicia was firmly kept inside.

"Well..to be quite honest with you all, we know their leader from the time that one of those dreaded knights had chanted his name at us when they were invading this place, getting rid of everything to it's name...and he specifically told us about the place that he'd be taking us to, that is before we made the escape" Twart admitted.

Felicia and her brothers began playing with each other behind Shrek and Fiona as they sat down.

"In all honesty, I'm gonna take a bet in saying that the only reason why they haven't got you is because you probably reside in a place that they wouldn't suspect has anyone living in it?" Twart said.

"Oh please, I hope it spares me the freedom of having to see them. All I care about is the safety of my family, so that's that..."

"No, uh, Shrek is your name, right? you don't understand...the people under those steel helmets, riding on those horses are NOT regular people...they're, what we call, mentally stupid, or in other words, they've been brainwashed to serve a complete maniac who quite frankly, would torture us if he knew we were living in this abandoned village.." Twart claimed.

"When they, in a merciless fashion, kidnap everybody you once knew, that should speak volumes about why we're saying that they aren't regular knights..."

Shrek was suspecting something now. The emphasis on the knights seemed to imply to him that this was some sort of joke being played.

"You know what, you guys? good on ya. You got me good just now, haha. The fact that you have THAT amount of determination to play me is quite admiring, but you know what? I've realised something; this is just one big laugh, isn't it? and to think, I was worried the whole time, hahahaha..."

"Shrek, read our lips, carefully. The leader of that lot of knights is the self-proclaimed king of the woods. In other words, he owns this entire land we're standing in, according to him and his admirers. So can you see now why he's sending out his knights to capture those that 'trespass' on the land every night, huh?" Twart said, trying to persuade Shrek that this is anything but a joke.

"It's not exactly a charming thing to think about, is it?" it hit Blay like a bomb the second he made that utterance; he covered his mouth, as Twart gave him a scary stare; luckily though, Shrek, Fiona and the rest didn't seem to catch onto it.

The reason why they don't want Shrek to know the name of the leader is because they don't want Charming's name being promoted beyond here; they acknowledged, just from the actions of his knights in the past, that Prince Charming is probably some ruthless, dictatorial, power-hungry being who'll cut through anything to ensure that he stands at the top. On top of that, they didn't want to make Shrek any more worried than what he seemed to be when they first met him before. It's intriguing as to how sympathetic a human can feel for a monster like Shrek.

"There's a ton I wanna know about, I ain't LEAVIN quite yet. You said their leader was on the move, how so, huh?" Donkey said, having a genuine desire to know more about these knights that, according to these two, patrol the night capturing any so-called trespassers.

"Well uh, rumour has it is that he's looking to potentially take over a kingdom of some sort, but what do we know, huh, haha" Twart said, sitting backwards as he chuckled.

"He sounds like he needs a good kick in THEM...I'll make sure he get's a double kick in THEM..." Donkey said, making a reference to giving Prince Charming (which he doesn't actually know that it's HIM that's the leader) a kick in the groin.

"Oh yeah, smart thinking, let's kick the leader of a bunch of deadly knights! see how that goes for you, huh?" Twart said, in a satire tone.

"Okay okay, I think now is probably the time that we should make a path elsewhere.." Fiona said, standing up from her seat, walking over to her kids.

"Come on Princess, there's so much more we needa LEARN!" Donkey claimed.

Shrek stood up, as did Fiona, as the two orges seemed to be growing a discomfort with the potential reality of what Twart and Blay have claimed.

"Donkey, there comes a time in which we've possibly heard ENOUGH.." Shrek claimed, feeling happy with Fiona's idea to go elsewhere at this point.

"Wait a minute, we haven't even seen what the rest of this place holds?!" Donkey exclaimed, as that had suddenly caught onto Felicia, Fergus and Farkle; they wanted to basically have a walk around of this abandoned village.

"Come on mummy, daddy!" they collectively spouted, "we wanna see where else we can goo!"

"I mean uh, I wouldn't mind showing you orges what the buildings used to consist of, huh? this is the only building that we use nowadays, anyways, as using all of them could risk our chances of being exposed to the knights"

Shrek mainly, but Fiona did it too, huffed in reluctance. Felicia, Fergus and Farkle genuinely loved this place; they were obsessed with it, and who could blame them? they've lived in a swamp for all of their lives, so to see some actual, man-made structures in their big numbers had made their childish minds attached to them.

"I suppose we can kill off the rest of the day, it's uh, the morning seems to have gone, anyways...sure, it'll be a new thing for the kids I suppose.." Fiona declared, still standing up.

"Perhaps I should glue you in place, Fiona? you're moving from one thing to another here.." Shrek said, baffled at Fiona now wanting to stay here after initially looking as if she was going to head back to the swamp.

"Shrek...think of the kids, alright? do you want them to remember us as the quarreling orges? I certainly don't. Plus, we're completely safe, and hey, between you and me hunny..." Fiona leaned in into Shrek's long ears, "I honestly believe that what they're saying is something that happened ages and ages ago, and doesn't happen now.." she whispered.

"So uh, are we doin' this or what?" Donkey asked, "my babies and I are down and out for it all!" he exclaimed.

"Alriiighttt, fineee, I guess we can stick around for longer, then..." Shrek said, planting one of his big orge hands onto his head in the process.

"You're gonna love it, Shrek. Whilst we're still safe, we can spend as much time as we want showing you guys where uh.." Blay coughed briefly, "where most of our friends lived, and what this village used to be before we were robbed...and invaded..."

Felicia was scratching her chin with curiosity, where she stuck out like a sore thumb amongst her hyperactive brothers, Fergus and Farkle. It was that brief meet-up with that little friend just now; she was pumping up with excitement at being able to go elsewhere.

What Blay and Twart have said and revealed about the abandoned village they now live in is far from fake; when Prince Charming's forces moved near the area, even though they had stolen a gigantic amount of supplies, armor and weaponry from Far-Far-away before they left, that didn't mean that they wouldn't invade other places that contained valuable resources that'd extend the strength of their force. The more supplies they stole, the stronger that their regime-like movement would become, and because they've done this, Charming's fully set his kingdom in stone; when he invaded this very village with his forces, that was it; they were able to grow into an even bigger force, a threat that would come to the state it's in today. It's like the old saying; you get out what you put in. Rumpelstiltskin, basically being Prince Charming's right-hand man at this point, was unsure about what would happen after he brings back one of the orges; whether he'll be given his position within the dangerous 'kingdom', or if he'll have to do more before Charming fully delivers on his promise.


	12. Showing them around

**CHAPTER 12: Showing them around**

Twart and Blay guided the orges and the rest across the village in a tour-guided style. They stopped outside a medieval-bar looking building that had a banner hanging off of a bit of wood that had stretched outwards from above the door, yet it was covered with a bunch of scratch marks, the torch besides the door was free of any flames, as it has been since that invasion, and a coldness was moving throughout the vicinity of the building. Prior to Charming's forces moving near here, virtually every window of all the buildings in this village had an orange glare of lightness from the inside, but now, it was just pure darkness as the windows were vacant from anybody living inside the buildings.

"Top of the art stuff we once had here..." Blay claimed.

"Hey uh," Twart said, scratching the back of his neck as he began getting used to seeing a Donkey and an orange cat in boots looking at him as they completely understand him, "if you ever see that leader, tell him that we're coming back for our pints, alright?"

"Woah, I just realised something..." Blay said, walking over towards Shrek as he stood besides the orge's arm, which was like a tree trunk in comparison to Blay's body. "We drew you in a circle somewhere around here back in the day, you remember us, don't you?" he said, pointing to the dry, light-brown ground.

Blay was one of the villagers who had, one night, went to Shrek's swamp with a mob of pitch forks and torches, until Shrek himself had savagely made them run off like a bunch of weaklings.

"I actually quite enjoyed those occasions, to be honest with you, I think you all were trying to do something big for yourselves when you were all just perhaps a bit too small, huh?" Shrek said, chuckling like his old self, for he just delivered a certain joke that had passed over Blay's head entirely.

"Uh, sure. Right then, I dunno if you all wanna go elsewhere, do you?" Blay said, not understanding what Shrek meant just now after the orge chuckled, resulting in him not bothering to reply to Shrek, and instead, interrogate where the rest want to go.

Felicia, standing amongst Fergus and Farkle, turned towards the building that she was just in with her family, looking directly at the spot that she and that little guy was in just now; it clicked in her head that he had promised to take her somewhere fun and exciting to escape the fact that she has a 'mean daddy' in Shrek. Little does she know though, that it's anything but fun, and instead, it's a lure so Rumpelstiltskin can obtain a position of power within Prince Charming's little regime, as apart of the deal they had struck together. Felicia looked back at Twart and Blay as she began playing with her brothers again.

"Alright then, what'll it be?" Twart said, pointing across the many buildings of the village.

"I don't suppose we could go home now, Fiona?" Shrek said, explicitly making the claim out loud so both Blay and Twart could hear it.

"Nononono, not yet!" the three orge kids collectively said, which prompt Fiona to look at Shrek to shrug at him; she gave off the expression that had stated _we may as well stay._

"I'm setting the deadline for tonight, we can't be here all day, Fiona.."

"I just want to give the kids something to enjoy, Shrek.." Fiona said, with Shrek feeling like he has no choice but to go through with it due to his natural desire to make his kids happy, especially after the moody-persona he had shown them before with Felicia.

"It's settled then. But like we said, you ought to make a return to wherever you came from before it fully strikes night time, those guys back there are unpredictable" Twart said, just shrugging his shoulders.

"Oh, uh, I think you all ought to know where our pitchforks shop used to be. Yep, we actually had one of those, and we had a flame on a stick shop, too..." Blay said, looking directly at Shrek as he declared this; he remembers when he, and his group of buddies during that time, go to Shrek's swamp where they were easily scared enough to run away from Shrek despite having a bunch of pitchforks and torches at their disposal.

They took a turn to the left as they got towards a bar-looking structure, with two gigantic containers without a single pitchfork or wooden stick for a flame to be ignited on. Twart simply looked at Shrek and the rest as he raised his arms towards the emptiness of the structure. There used to be a villager behind here that would sell the pitchforks or the torches for a decent amount of wealth.

"I'm startin' to feel like there's more to this whole...knights thing than you're telling us...where're the pitchforks?" Shrek asked, surprising everyone with his curiosity.

"It's just like you said, Shrek, those brainwashed knights, when they moved near this area, stole everything from this place when they invaded it clean...there's nothing..."

"Alright alright, can you just let us in on whatever dirty secret you two are keeping? you seem to be totally bonkers about this whole knights thing, if you aren't gonna tell us all?" Shrek said, but with neutrality.

Twart and Blay's opinion of their own knowledge was pretty low. But when it came to the topic that Shrek is practically begging them to reveal, they knew precisely what type of organisation it was; those knights are evil, sadistic, and they worship a 'Prince' who's now became nothing more than a hungry dictator, intent on expanding his rule over those knights into a kingdom one day. They were being commanded, practically, by Shrek, to let the orge know what it is that's making them so hesitant to reveal every single detail. They reluctantly nodded a no at Shrek, prompting to walk further into the village to give them all the tour. As they walked past the pitch and torch sales structure that has since been abandoned, much like the rest of the village, Shrek had pinpointed a loose bit of paper just attached to the wooden pole of the structure; it looked old and wrinkly with it's torn up parts, but there was a readable collection of words on it. The second Twart and Blay looked back at Shrek's direction, Fiona looked at him too as they widened their eyes; they should have kept that note hidden.

"What is this?" Shrek asked, switching the paper to the side with a letter-styled set of words on it.

Fiona walked up to Shrek's side as the two of them began reading the letter precisely. Twart and Blay were sure that now that Shrek's about to find out what they've tried to keep hidden, he'd be ten times as unsettled.

 _Dear any villagers that were lucky enough to have survived us,_

 _The future is coming. It is within our intentions to serve our master. This village opposes everything that we want, and it opposes our desire to create the future kingdom. The viable route we have taken to resolve this matter, much like numerous other places of a similar status, is to invade and utilise every single resource your obnoxious set of buildings have. Failing to comply in line with us, we have had no choice but to totally act upon the good deeds of our master for the sake of his survival; do NOT expect any resurrection upon this place, for if anybody is found residing in it after the time this letter was hammered upon the very wood it is currently dangling off of, you will be mercilessly handled and taken back to the great regime, where you will be imprisoned on behalf of the great master himself. This is indeed personal, and, much like our policy surrounding land trespassers at night, we will stop at nothing to have you arrested. We are one, we are the strongest movement growing, and no disgusting traitors will step in our path, like those trespassers, or any freeloaders who happen to be having a nice warmth inside this village. Be warned and be scared, we're scanning every night the land that is surrounded upon our vicinity._

 _The Charming Empire is one that will strive to becoming the governing group of every land surrounding this worthless village, and any person or thing that deems the act of trying to stop our emergence appropriate will simply be crucified without any sort of indication as you're dragged mercilessly back to our base._

 _On behalf of his great leadership of Prince Charming._

Shrek dropped the letter down to the ground, in shock, as he turned to Twart and Blay. Fiona looked at Shrek, as well.

"Prince Charming?" Shrek said, sending a chill to go up the spine of Twart specifically.

"Look, we didn't know what to tell you, we just...we just didn't want you to be all unsettled and scared? we know what it's lik-"

"I...I have had more history with him than you can ever imagine...for the WORST. He tried to end me in a performance, he nearly kissed my wife, and he's very well done the same thing to Far-Far-away when we were still there..."

"W-Woah, Charming?! I thought he was dead?!"

"So did I, Donkey, but I guess he must have had some sort of miracle to escape that tower, unharmed...unfortunately..." Shrek said.

"WO-Woah, The Charming Empire?" Fiona said, suddenly realising what that could mean.

"Y-Yeah...alright, yeah, it's true...Charming's the leader, he's been building up an empire of his so he can eventually uh...take over as much land as he can, but at the moment, he's got a little base somewhere beyond here where he imprisons anybody that trespasses on his land...we're really sorry that we didn't tell you earlier..." Blay said, feeling like they had no choice but to admit the truth.

The thought of Prince Charming being back, somehow, had completely made Shrek forget about Rumpelstiltskin; he never thought about the prospect that he and Charming were working together, and if he somehow manages to remember Rumpelstiltskin's escape from the cage before, then he'll be more unsettled.

"You've gotta make this quick, me and my family need to be in safety soon enough..." Shrek said, acknowledging that Charming is a crazy person who's willing to do anything to gain his vengeance, but little does he know, he's only became more evil, he's got the dictator persona nowadays.

"So where is...this base, he must know of this existence, then?" Fiona added.

Felicia stepped backwards slightly; all of this talk of a 'base' sounded familiar to what that little guy had promised before; with the little guy being Rumpelstiltskin. Although it sounded familiar, she didn't speak a word, because she still wanted to see where she'd be taken by going with him later tonight. She stepped backwards, holding onto both her hands as the entire group started arguing with each other about what type of path they should take next.

"I think we ought to find somewhere else to live, Fiona, if Charming's about?" Shrek said, with Fiona looking unsure.

Just by coming to this damaged village, Shrek and his pals have already learnt so much about what's going on around the swamp; it was scary to think that they've been in the midst of whatever Charming's doing. Shrek, however, kept his cool, because he's realised that if it's true that Charming's been up to things around the swamp, and he hasn't even encountered anything of the sort, then he'll continue to remain safe. It was Felicia, Fergus and Farkle however that had made him debate trying to go elsewhere.

"Please amigo...let me see this letter you just dropped..." Puss said, walking normally.

He picked up the letter as the Dronkey's flew up behind Puss to read it for themselves.

"Huhhh...oh yess, I can see that we might have a problem here?"

"It's nothing that you can't handle, though, surely?" Blay asked, as he began looking across the other buildings.

"The last thing I wanna do is risk myself for the sake of meeting somebody who I've learnt a lot about, tell em about Fairy Godmother, Fiona, since Charming's her son?"

Fiona felt that this was a personal topic; she didn't want to share her experiences with Fairy Godmother at all, when the godmother herself was still alive.

"Uh, actually hunny, I think we should just try and enjoy ourselves...we've got all day, and I want this to be a fun time for the kids, u-uh, Felicia, are you okay?" Fiona had noticed Felicia scratching her hands as she seemed to look down at the ground with uncertainty.

Felicia masked a sudden bright smile at her mum, as Fiona rushed over to her. Fiona picked her up, and held her tightly so she wouldn't fall.

"Y-Yes mummy, I'm happy!" Felicia uttered, trying not to reveal to her family about where she's going tonight.

"Okay, hunny, good. We're gonna see more...I presume anyways?" Fiona said, looking at Twart and Blay as Fiona was relying on them to try and kill off the entire thought of Charming within the atmosphere.

"Oh uh, certainly. Right this way, come along...and hey uh, again, cat, sorry we don't have milk...those blasted knights took everything, like I said, haha"

"You do not need an apology, comrade.."

"What am I doing here?" Shrek whispered to himself, so nobody could hear him; he was unable to grasp upon the fact that he and his family have been living amongst a deadly group of Charming supporters, or something, but little does he know, his daughter, Felicia, is imminently going to be lured by Rumpelstiltskin to be taken to Charming's base so Rumpel himself can be handed a position of power within Charming's regime movement.


	13. Blay and Twart's experience

**CHAPTER 13: Blay and Twart's experience**

They all returned to the building that they were in when they first got to this abandoned village, and Shrek at this point honestly didn't feel concerned; that is, until he realises that Rumpelstiltskin is amongst the vicinity alongside Prince Charming's deadly regime. As he, Fiona, Donkey and Puss once again sat opposite Blay and Twart after they had seen that letter, delivered by one of Charming's knights directly after the invasion, there was a desire for Blay and Twart to reveal precisely what went on that horrific night.

"We honestly shouldn't have let you seen that paper, Shrek.."

"Too late, I've already seen it with my own eyes, and you know what? I'm slightly concerned, but at the end of the day, Charming's just a nothing kind of guy, you know?" Shrek claimed, forgetting about Rumpelstiltskin entirely.

"Yeah, you shoulda seen what he did to Pinocchio when he made him a puppet machine in a glass box!" Donkey exclaimed, referring to the occurrence surrounding Pinocchio at the time of Charming's coup of Far-Far-away.

"I don't know what that means, and I'm honestly not wanting to find out, to be honest..." Twart said.

"How...did you survive this, then? if you're saying it's as bad as it seems, what exactly did you...do on the day to survive?" Shrek asked, as Twart and Blay reluctantly looked at each other.

It was a sensitive topic, but Blay took the bait, and he was going to be the one to describe precisely what happened on that horrifying night, when Charming's forces marched into the village in their numbers to invade it and render it into the state it's in today.

"It was just a casual night..."

**FLASHBACK TO THE NIGHT THAT THE INVASION OCCURRED**

Blay and his group of buddies were in one big circle in the middle of the village, just outside the pitchforks and torches stand, as the other villagers were looking to head inside for the night. They left a gap in the middle of their circle so Blay could take the ideas and physically draw them out on the mud.

"Got the pitch forks?" one of his companions asked, as he held onto his big wooden torch.

"Aye! you take lead, and we'll try and approach the swamp from a different angle..." Blay said, drawing a shape on the dirt with a stick to precisely show to his group of fellow villagers what he wants.

The village was lit up; whilst they all capped off a day of drinking booze, Blay and his big group of friends had the intention of returning to that swamp again, to try and take on the orge that had once scared them off, in which he simply took out the flame of a torch by placing his fingers onto the tip of the torch itself with ease.

"Alright lads, you ready to get our comeuppance?!"

They all chanted together as they held their pitchforks and torches together in one gigantic showing.

"AYEEEEEE!" They chanted, with Blay nodding.

The ground felt like it was thumping a bit, but Blay and his companions were too focused on the task in hand to focus on the thumping. They began walking towards the direction of the open field, carrying their torches and pitchforks in a proud manner, but then, their ears began picking up what sounded initially like a thunderstorm. Blay looked out to the dark field, holding both his hands out to his group, as he could notice what appeared to be a numerous amount of orange ball-shaped sights getting closer. The initial thunder sound was beginning to form into the sound of a gigantic amount of horses running with their strong hooves, and they began hearing the horses themselves with their casual sounds. Blay and his group backed up, but upon the realisation that these orange balls were actual beings, riding horses in a full force charge towards the village, they began slowly backing up. The people on what sounded like horses anyways, had torches of flames in their hands; the source of the orange balls. They began panicking, but it was all too late.

"RED FLAG, RED FLAG, RETREAT!" Blay yelled, trying to alarm the entire village; he and his group began rushing back into the collection of buildings, but the knights on the horses caught up with them as they were growing in their numbers.

"FOR HIS MAJESTY, PRINCE CHARMING!" The knights yelled on their horses, as they began their intrusive movement into the village, prompting all the villagers to run and scream, and with some running inside to lock the doors.

About ten knights had departed off of their horses, leaving the animals unattended to briefly, but this was a vital component in their invasion; they've been ordered to destroy and empty this village of every single resource it has, on behalf of Prince Charming, but these villagers were violating their leader's leadership, by supposedly trying to oust him with a movement of their own.

"OH MY GOD! QUICK, GET INSIDE, GET INSIDE, GET INSIDE!" A female villager yelled, as the knights began charging towards every building.

Blay and his group found themselves cornered off by a collection of knights with their swords out.

"STAY IN YOUR POSITIONS, NOW!" He yelled.

The group tried to run, but as each individual ran, a knight ran out from the corners to tackle them down as if they were in a game of rugby. The only one standing was Blay, trembling and scared on his feet as he was witnessing the horrific sight of his fellow villagers being taken prisoner, and tackled down with no mercy. The head knight, being the one that had told the group to stay in their positions just now, looked at Blay with surprise as the screaming of villagers and the smashing of doors could be heard echoing across the atmosphere of the village.

"Defying my orders, are we? forget it, kid, this is no longer a village...this is an obnoxious, lousy excuse of a place...so by standing there, you're only worsening your sentence, which will commence...right ABOUT NO-!"

The knight was caught off guard; a larger-than usual villager had charged in front of Blay and smashed a fist into the knight's shiny helmet; it proved to be ineffective entirely pain-wise, but it knocked the head-knight down; soon, the big villager grabbed Blay and yanked him towards a part of the village where the knights will never be able to find him nor the big villager himself. They sprinted past knights knocking down doors, burning up some of the buildings, and worst, knights intentionally grabbing every single resource, in food, booze, weaponry back over towards where they came. This big villager, that had saved Blay from being captured, was Twart.

"NO, NO, PLEASE! HAVE MERCY!" A woman villager cried, as she and her son were being dragged by their arms from two of Prince Charming's knights; they were being taken out of their houses to be delivered to Charming's base. Her medieval, dark-red and white dress had made the knights struggle, but they still got her over to their horse.

The knight's didn't budge; their only motive was to deliver for their leader, Prince Charming, by ensuring that he gains the governing power of every single bit of this land imminently, and that starts with this village being emptied and destroyed of all of it's existence. Not a single word had been spoken from the knights, either; regardless of if their victims were crying and pledging for mercy, they were like robots who were programmed not to talk, but instead, deliver for the leader.

Three knights had sent their metal bodies against a wooden door being shut from the inside; a group of villagers inside one of the buildings had blocked it off, but sure enough, the knights were going to break their way in imminently. A second knight had began thrusting his metal boot up into the air, slamming it against the wooden door to weaken it of it's handles; his strength had caused the collision to sound like a thunder-strike being lit up directly in front of the wooden door. The priority of the knights was to get EVERY SINGLE villager from here all the way to Charming's base; they'll make for some good prisoners, after all. Some villagers had fought back, but ultimately, the numbers game had got the best of them.

"GET OFF ME, YOU SADISTIC MORON!" A villager yelled, struggling with a knight that had beat him in height; he began smashing his fists against the knight's helmet, before another knight rushed over towards him to tackle him down; they began slamming the villager, left right and centre, from the nose, to the eyes, to the mouth and to the cheeks, with their hard, solid metal elbows from their knight armour.

The villager felt pain crawling through his face, as his eyesight began darkening as the elbows collided. He could smell the cold metal of the knight's elbows, and he could also feel himself be cornered off from the cold, shiny metal of their armour. He could hear growling from the helmets of the knights as they tried to ensure that he wasn't going to exchange another hit, but worst of all, he could taste blood from his lips; these two knights had accomplished their goal of ensuring that he's weakened down. They lifted him up aggressively, before the knight he had punched got right into his face, leaving his helmet on, though.

"You'll make a good experiment within the crucifying aspect. TAKE HIM AWAY!" He yelled, with the knight gripping onto him from the armpits nodding, complying in line with what Prince Charming wanted before he sent the knights here.

This was a dark, dark night; merciless knights invading an innocent village, as the villagers fought back, cried for mercy, but whilst the knights were stealing resources before ensuring that this village had no chance of a resurrection. To see their old friends be captured and mercilessly handled like animals had made Blay and Twart at the time cry as they were hiding out from the knights. They had no idea why this was happening, but they do know now that their village has been destroyed; the knights had not only stolen everything, they intentionally destroyed some parts of certain buildings, they had captured every single villager, they had rendered it a dark, cold, ghost town without a single glimpse of lightness to be seen; it was nothing more than a cold, empty, ruined place of occupation. It was flamed up, screams were heard, and it was being reduced to nothing more than an empty, abandoned collection of buildings.

**BACK TO BLAY AS HE CONCLUDES WHAT THAT NIGHT WAS LIKE**

"Ever since that night...w-we...we haven't seen them since...they...they just took them, god knows what happened to them? oh my..." Blay said, getting a bit overwhelmed emotionally with the realisation that their friends might have possibly been executed, or worse, worked to death within Charming's base.

"And so you see...this village has became the result of crossing Charming, or as they had called it..." Twart said, holding onto Blay's shoulder. "We saw some brutal stuff that day, and it's never crossed out of our heads..."

"B-But why this? why is Charming so intent on...on...doing things like this?" Shrek asked, shocked at the brutality of the invasion.

"Because he's got a dictatorial material to him. Like we said, he wants to build up a regime full of brainwashed knights that he can eventually use to govern all of this land, and, god forbid, should that happen, we'd all be doomed. You..me...and your kids right there..." Blay said, pointing to Fergus, Farkle, and Felicia.

"Not if I have anything to do with it, he knows what I'm capable of, you hear me? I made him look like a little child the last time he tried it with me!"

"Y-You've had an altercation with him before?" Blay asked.

"N-Not exactly, I mean, I did defeat him, so to speak..."

"Then honestly? you're probably in a worse situation than all of us here..."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Shrek asked.

"Prince Charming has a fond desire to punish those exceptionally, hey, you don't believe me? I've witnessed the things he's done to our friends, and you only have to look at what his knights did to them; for going against his movement, he captured them all...now if you're saying that you personally had a past with him where you ruined him before he became a dangerous dictator...well then...you might just be on his target list as one of those who'll be exceptionally captured and handled..."

"Over my dead body, will he do that?" Shrek said, standing up in a tense moment.

"Woah woah, Shrek, calm down hunny..." Fiona pledged, holding onto Shrek's arm as he stood up.

"It's the harsh reality, Shrek. My advice to you, for when the time comes, is to just...get out of here before night time, and find a new place to live in...if it's the case that you and your family here do live nearby...we're only here because they never check this place anymore..."

"Family?! I knew it! I've always been family to you Shrek, haven't I?!" Donkey yelled.

"You aren't exactly the golden child now, amigo?"

"Why would I wanna be a flee-bag, huh?" Donkey said to Puss.

"In a way, Shrek, it's like when you pack a deal with somebody, only to find that the deal was a fraud, and the guy you did it with fooled you..." Blay said, with that utterance having a huge significance to a particular something, something that he isn't aware of.

"Far from it. I do deals with nobody, absolutely nobody, if Charming want's me, then he can come and get me, but I'm not budging from him, not a single bit...I mean...I'm an orge, for crying out loud, I could turn him into a dough if I really wanted to?"

"You think? I've come to like you, Shrek, but please, on behalf of myself and Twart here, don't underestimate him...you might have came close to defeating him in the past, but this is an entirely new game...he's got a brainwashed force behind his back, and what will you do if you're cornered off? you aren't gonna try and defeat a bunch of sword-wielding knights, are you?"

Shrek was being reminded of Lord Farquaad; he easily defeated his pack of knights when he found out that Fiona was an orge, wanting to lock her back up in the tower as a result.

"You...you don't think I have the experience?" Shrek asked.

Felicia was still standing out amongst her brothers, hands together, feet curled up, as her green head looked towards the door; it was still day time, meaning that that little guy isn't going to be back here yet.


	14. The debacle commences

**CHAPTER 14: The debacle commences**

It was a hard, long day for Shrek and his family. He and Fiona had been persuaded to remain at this abandoned village so their kids could be entertained and make a joy out of today, but much to their reluctance, especially Shrek himself. The orge still hasn't remembered that alongside Prince Charming, Rumpelstiltskin is also on the loose; imagine the force that the two of those deadly guys would create should they team up against Shrek in the near future? but nonetheless, Shrek was exhausted. He was once again inside the initial building that he and his family had entered once they met Twart. It was inspirational for Shrek to think about the fact that Twart had basically saved Blay's life that night, during the invasion; they've bonded close together, and it's all because of Twart. Friendships can emerge in various ways, after all.

Whilst Donkey was, much to the annoyance of Shrek, sat next to the orge, his dronkey's were actually on the table this time, where Twart and Blay had got the chance to stroke them. They were shocked earlier today when Donkey had said that their mum was a dragon; it literally begged the question in their minds; how in the living hell did a Donkey and a dragon make babies? they didn't even want to know beyond that point. Now, they were back to square one; inside the first building they entered, but now, the outside has became slightly darker as the moon begins it's ascension; Felicia was hanging out near the back wall, constantly looking at the open doorway, waiting for the gesture from that little guy. As you remember, Rumpelstiltskin has a good plan for manipulation, particularly in the aspect where he had told Felicia not to tell anybody about their little meeting, or the one that's about to occur. Felicia felt that her dad had been a 'meanie' to her all day, which had only prompt her to move forwards with being taken to what sounds like a fun place by the little guy she met.

"I-Isn't there anything we can do to help this place?" Shrek asked, unable to get the invasion out of his head.

"You serious?" Blay asked, pouring water into a cup, "they're gonna take us to Charming's base, and you know what they say, whenever anybody enters through those borders of his base...you can expect their presence to be cancelled for the rest of your life..."

Twart rushed over from the back over towards Blay, not wanting his friend to suddenly drop the ball in confidence towards Shrek; he did feel like, with Shrek's strength as an orge, and with Donkey's dragon wife, they could put an end to the Charming regime movement.

"Oh, uh, ahahah...you know what he's like, been stuck with this one for ages..." Twart said, laughing, as he patted Blay on the shoulder, "there is honestly hope...for all of this, you know?"

"H-Hope? oh yeah! there's genuinely a ton of it!" Blay said, trying to change the subject from his unintentional mood-down-bring just now.

Felicia walked slowly towards the table as there was silence briefly. She kept on hearing the name 'Charming' but she genuinely had no idea who it was.

"Who's...Charming?" she asked, being able to utter a mature-sounding sentence, which caught the surprise of Blay and Twart.

"Oh, ahahahahah, 'who's Charming?' hahahahahah, you cheeky little orge..hahahaha..." Blay laughed, with Shrek looking at Felicia, unsure as to what to feel at her asking the question.

Twart tapped Blay's shoulder again, feeling as if it's probably for the better if he told the kids, so they can potentially learn of the danger in the future if Charming's rise is a continuing thing at that point in time.

"W-They don't know, do they?"

"Well...they aren't exactly adults, are they?!" Shrek uttered, in a satire tone.

"Well listen, young ones, he's the self-proclaimed king of these woods...he's...he's the top 'lad'...the king of this land..."

"Oh come on, don't say that to them, just say to them that he thinks he's the king?" Shrek said.

"That's why I said self-proclaimed, you know what that means, right?"

Felicia nodded slowly, backing away, as Fergus and Farkle looked at Blay as Fergus was on Shrek's knee, whilst Farkle was on Fiona's knee, listening in at what the human has to say. Suddenly, she could see a shadow in the doorway; it looked precisely like that little guy. She looked up at her dad, Shrek, from behind, particularly, with a grumpy face, before nodding with a 'non-sense' type of expression. She began walking towards the door-way, and not a single person inside had noticed Felicia; they were too caught up with the topic in hand. She walked out of the door-way, as Rumpelstiltskin was revealed.

"Oh uh, hey there, little orge!" Rumpelstiltskin whispered, feeling excited at bringing Felicia back to the base, as he'll be given a position of power for doing so.

"Hi, you will take me now, right?!" Felicia said, in her innocent, yet unaware voice.

"Just follow me, and we can uh...we can discuss things along the way, dear small orge..." Rumpel said, curling up his fingers together before tapping them with a mischievous face briefly.

And thus, Felicia's descent into isolation has begun.

"Charming hasn't touched this village in forever, like we said..." Blay said.

"But, oh my god, I've just realised...the knights are gonna be getting back, and if they see us here, we'll taken to the base..."

"W-Why would they take us?"

"I didn't think you lot would be this fearful...considering that you're orges...but look...Prince Charming, all of his knights, the base up north?! that can all be settled by YOU! and uh...YOUR WIFE!" Blay said, pointing at Donkey at the end.

"Huh, who, what, when where, why?!" Donkey said.

"I can't possibly...I'm a father, if you don't remember..."

"Have none of you been listening to what me and Twart have said? yes, we've probably made it sound all...like something that's incapable of being retaliated against, but...how can you be afraid of ANYTHING? you're orges? you can settle it, one way or another?"

"You know, I'm starting to think that he has a point, Shrek? why wouldn't you try giving Charming a piece of his own medicine, huh?" Donkey asked, looking at Shrek.

"This isn't something for me, it's out of my hands, and I think I can conclusively say that we're going elsewhere when we get back, you got that?"

"B-But you can't just leave? you're HUGE...look at me, you outsize us by a ton...remember that night when you scared us off? surely, you can perhaps do the same to Charming and his lot when they start going out?"

"For your information, if I truly wanted to scare the living pants out of somebody, I'd have to have fire inside of me, like, ORGE anger..." Shrek said, looking as if he's feeling repetitive of this entire day.

"Sorted. Let's get you angry, then?" Blay said.

"Listen, I'm not a pet, I'm not a robot, I'm just..me...I'm an ordinary orge, who just so happens to have a family by his side, you got it? I think we ought to head on back in a minute, Fiona.."

"I think it's probably for the best if we do that.." Fiona said, with everyone still oblivious to Felicia's disappearance.

"It's dark outside...you should have went back earlier on?" Blay said, sounding like he genuinely wanted Shrek and everyone else to deal with Charming's deadly regime; he's clearly got the capability, as an orge.

"And you don't think I'm the scariest thing to come across in the middle of a dark forest? just watch me when we head on back with ease.." Shrek said, looking like he was about to stand up.

"Listen you guys...Shrek...Fiona...Donkey, and your three kids, Shrek," the funny thing was, Twart here hasn't realised that there's two of his kids; Fergus and Farkle, rather than three, "when those knights capture you...it'll be done, over, but you, Shrek? you and your wife here are ORGES...I'm only saying it'd be the end of you if your kids..or...your donkey here was captured, which I'd imagine he would...considering you can talk?" Twart said.

"I can do more than talk, might I add..."

"Save it for another time, Donkey, I think we've spent too long here..." Shrek said, finally standing up.

Twart and Blay both stood up at the precise time Shrek and Fiona did; they've been given the most company they've had since the invasion, and to now, see these orges potentially risk their lives after befriending them, even though they have the capability to scare off the knights, they genuinely didn't want them to head on back. If they can just confront Prince Charming, then it'd be the end of his little reign, which is what Twart and Blay had in their heads. The problem is, they don't realise that it's not that simple.

Prince Charming's a different entity from when he had last seen Shrek. After that tower collapsing onto him in the midst of being defeated and humiliated, he grew mentally unstable and unhinged, to the point that he's became an even more dangerous person than what he was during the time of his brief coup of Far-Far-away. All of that transformation has made him want to avenge himself against Shrek, and the orge is why he's became unhinged; just thinking about how he'd come for revenge against Shrek kept him up at nights. He was going to kill Shrek in front of an audience that night on the stage before his friends tried to save him, but honestly, imagine the lengths that Charming would take now, to kill Shrek, given that he's turned into a dictatorial, mentally unstable persona who leads a regime of knights that patrol to capture any trespassers? it simply wasn't that easy.

"You remind me of Artie..." Shrek said, looking specifically at Blay.

"A-Artie? w-who's Artie?" Blay asked.

"Just some old kid I once knew...he's since had the touch of royalty added to his name, haha.."

"Ohh, that's uh, that's cool, I guess. But do you not realise what you're leaving, if you do walk out that doorway?"

"Listen, we aren't leaving out of selfishness or whatever you think, because you've actually given our kids here something fun to do, so...thank you for the hospitality..." Fiona said.

"B-But the knights-"

"They won't lay their hands on me, I can assure you, Blay. Maybe we'll visit again soon, you never know?" Shrek said, realising that he's come to like both Blay and Twart; they've been survivors of a deadly invasion, yet, despite all of that suffering, they've come to develop great personalities.

Donkey, on the other hand, was having second thoughts; maybe they should do something to help with this entire crisis near this area.

"T-Time out for a minute, you guys. We should at least take some sort of consideration into helping out?" he said, with Shrek sighing and rolling his eyes.

"Donkey, like I said, it's out of our hands.."

Blay and Twart began looking at each other with confusion at Shrek's desire to leave. It's dark outside, so they're putting themselves at risk. Shrek turned to face them, as did Fiona, and the dronkeys began flying upwards near Donkey, readying themselves to head home.

"I'm sorry, but it's time that me and my family got home...Fergus?" Shrek said, looking for Fergus; he was in place.

"Farkle?" Shrek subsequently said, looking at Farkle.

"Felicia?" he said, before realising that there was only two of his kids; his heart dropped, not literally, but emotionally.

"F-Felicia?!" he repeated, with the entire gang following his running body to the outside to look for her; she's just...vanished.

"M-Mum, where's Felicia?" Fergus said, worryingly, and as if he's about to cry.

"It's okay, she's just playing..."

Blay and Twart stepped outside with Shrek, in the darkness, as he was suddenly feeling relieved; she was just hiding around the village somewhere, to play with their minds.

"I'm gonna find her, Fiona..hang on.." Shrek said, directing Farkle over to Fiona's side.

Donkey ran past Shrek, to find what appeared to look like a yellow, mini-scarf like clothing curled up on the floor, near the front entrance of this building, but he was the only one to have noticed it. It must have been loose from the neck of whoever had it on.

"You might not be able to...uh...Shrek...so uhm...when was Rumpelstiltskin here?" Donkey asked, keeping one hoof on top of the yellow scarf, as it had provided a vital clue.

"O-Oh no...Oh nono..." Shrek said, upon remembering Rumpelstiltskin and his escape...he instantly thought of a horrifying prospect; has Rumpelstiltskin, somehow, took Felicia somewhere? you only have to look at Rumpel's history to know why this is a dangerous prospect.

"Shrek..." Blay asked, in the midst of Fiona and Shrek panicking, with Puss and Donkey and the rest keeping their cool, so the mood wouldn't become even worse, "has Felicia ever heard of the concept of luring, before?"


	15. Red flag

**CHAPTER 15: Red flag**

Rumpelstiltskin had led Felicia all the way from the open field from the village to the woods, precisely to the part where that knight had said the carriage would be. Rumpelstiltskin had some unexpected conversations with Felicia in the midst of their journey, but at the end of the day, this is a task that he simply cannot refuse; he needs to give Charming what he specifically requested, in order to get his place of power that Rumpel himself was promised. As they walked through the woods, Felicia honestly had no idea where they were going; they were in the forest, just walking past the brief hills and the trees, but Rumpelstiltskin began noticing a glare of light in the midst of the trees ahead. Charming had told all of his knights that he had given permission to Rumpel to walk on the land, as he's been set a task, so the patrol knights, should he and Felicia run into a couple, aren't a concern.

"Where...are we going...?" Felicia asked, holding onto herself as she tried to shield herself from the cold.

"Ohh, uh, haha, look over there, there's our transport to a fun little land, little orge! come on!"

"You are a good friend of mine!" Felicia said, as she struggled to walk on her two weak orge feet.

"I...thanks, I guess.." Rumpel said, not sure as to what to think at genuinely thinking that he's a friend. In a way, it made him drop a very minor barricade in moving forwards with this job, but of course, he still felt inclined to do it.

"Aha! there's the carriage! come along, little orge, hehehe!" Rumpel laughed, running over towards the carriage as it was emitting a distinguishable light from it's flame torches.

"AHA! Rumpel! how're you doing? and did you bring the orges?" The knight asked, unveiling his face from his helmet as he jumped out of the carriage.

"Yeah yeah! haha! look here, I've got one!" Rumpel said, pointing over to Felicia, as she was surprised to meet this stranger that her 'friend' had just led her to.

"Just perfect, I'm sure the master is going to reward you! step on in, little orge!" The knight said, with Felicia thinking that this was the way towards the fun place that Rumpel had initially hinted at prior to tonight.

Rumpelstiltskin climbed in, and then the knight climbed into the carriage subsequently, shutting it. He began directing the horses over to the direction of Charming's base, as all of the knights were finally out in their patrolling numbers all over this forest.

"I can tell he'll be...happy at your effort..." the knight added, emitting a snakey-sounding chuckle, with Rumpel not catching onto it.

"I'm so excited!" Felicia exclaimed.

Just seeing this little orge girl genuinely excited, as if what he said to her earlier was true, made Rumpel secretly hold his fingers together to scratch them both; was it guilt? he had no idea, but still, he was intent on doing this so he can finally gain some vengeance against the father of this orge; Shrek. His greediness for power had made him feel good about doing it once again, alongside the path to avenging himself.

**SHREK AND HIS GANG ARE CHARGING TOWARDS THE WOODS**

"HURRY!" Shrek yelled, just running along to the point that Fiona and the rest were struggling to keep up.

He was like a ball rolling through the woods; pushing past any tree that happened to get in his way. But this is appropriate, given that his daughter is now potentially in the hands of both Rumpelstiltskin and Prince Charming. Twart and Blay were starting to lose their breath, as the dronkey's had the benefit of flying; although, they had to avoid flying into the branches of the woods.

"SHREK, THERE'S PATROL KNIGHTS OUT HERE, TAKE IT EASY!"

"I DON'T CARE, I'LL CRUSH EM ALL IF IT MEANS THAT I GET MY DAUGHTER BACK!"

"WHY IS THIS HAPPENING..." Fiona said, as she was holding both Fergus and Farkle, as they had no idea what to make of this entire situation right now.

They all climbed up a brief steep surface, before the entire group had stopped in place, like they had been frozen in a block of ice; it's usually hours away, Charming's base that is, but because Shrek and his friends and family had literally sprinted like a cheetah, it was more like less than an hour, or maybe, the base isn't as far as expected. Twart and Blay looked like they had their chins up; arms were all separated from their sides, including Shrek's, as they stared at an open area within the forest; in the distance rested a stone-looking building, bordered off by wooden walls, and the entrance had knights in what appeared to be two gigantic towers; they were wielding crossbows. The big wooden entrance could be seen opening, as Shrek and his friends and family could make out a carriage entering the base itself. It looked like one big prison camp.

Twart and Blay calmly looked up at Shrek as they got to his side, nodding ever so slowly as the wind was whistling it's depressing tune, surrounded by the depressing darkness.

" **FELICIAAAAAAAAAAA!"** Fiona screamed, prompting Blay and Twart to rush over to her to keep quiet.

"SHUSH! THERE'S KNIGHTS, AND HE'LL HEAR YOU!"

Shrek took in a huge gulp of breath, as he was just about to charge for the base; it did look rather menacing and intimidating, especially in this darkness, but that didn't stop his family side from rushing in for the intent to grab and save Felicia.

" **NOOOOOOOOO!** " Twart yelled, as if Shrek was about to jump into a pool of lava. He grasped upon the orge's big green hand, stopping Shrek from sprinting directly to the base.

"GET OFF ME!" Shrek yelled, briefly pushing Twart.

"NO, NO, LISTEN, THIS IS WHAT HE WANTS!" Twart yelled, quietly though, so none of the knights around, or the ones guarding the base, could hear.

"WE CAN'T JUST LET HER GO IN THERE.."

"SHE'S OUR SISTER.." Fergus and Farkle said, one after the other.

"NO, LISTEN, SHE'S MOST LIKELY THE BAIT. SHREK, YOU SAID YOU HAVE HISTORY WITH CHARMING?"

"Y-YES..."

"THEN THAT'S JUST IT...HE WANTS YOU ALL TO GO THERE, THEN..."

"B-BUT WHY?!"

"TO END WHATEVER YOU HAD STARTED WITH HIM IN THE PAST...TO KILL YOU!"

Shrek and Fiona widened their eyes as Fiona let off a whine, the whine in which it was as if she was going to cry. Shrek stood as still as a statue, looking right back at the base as he bit his lip; he looked worried and concerned and absolutely frozen inside; the main thing, though, and this is something that Shrek's realised; Rumpelstiltskin is WORKING WITH PRINCE CHARMING. They all watched the base doors close from the distance here, as the cold wind sent gusts of wind through their heated up, and absolutely worried bodies. The thought of his daughter getting killed was absolutely scary for him. He was breathing to the point that his shoulders were going up. Shrek isn't aware either, of just how heavily guarded the base is; he thinks because he's an orge that he'll bypass it, but Charming's got a decent force that not even an orge could handle; it's not one to be underestimated.

Shrek, not thinking clearly due to being worried, looked back at Fiona.

"T-This is all your fault..." he said, prompting Fiona to respond instantly.

"W-My fault?!"

"Fiona, this wouldn't have happened if we had left earlier!"

"Oh oh, hang on a minute, so you're not the one who agreed then?!"

"I wanted what was best for our kids...yes, I agreed, but it's you THAT INFLUENCED ME TO STAY-"

"STOP IT, MUMMY AND DADDY!" Fergus and Farkle yelled, prompting Shrek and Fiona to look down at their two kids. "T-This won't help...our sister..."

Blay stood besides Shrek again.

"They're right..." Blay said, referring to Fergus and Farkle, "whoever that guy was, that's led your daughter to here, he's most likely been used...that's what Charming does, he tricks people...the guy who's lured her here is most likely a goner...and the only way you can save your daughter now...is by going to Duloc...realistically, they're the only place that can put up a fight against Charming and his forces..." he admitted, crossing his arms, feeling just as scared and worried as Shrek is.

"Simply put, it's too dangerous, Shrek, for you to go to the base...you might be able to take on the patrol knights in this forest behind us, but all at once at that stronghold? not even an orge could defend herself or himself. They've got deadly crossbows...it's...it's just madness..." Twart said, wanting to calm the orges down.

"Fine...fine...we'll go to Duloc...please...I don't want my daughter to die..." Shrek said, with Blay and Twart nodding at his comment, as they all stood across from Charming's base.

Shrek took one last look at the base...and it caused him to shiver. Just the thought of Prince Charming being a distance away from his orge-self...it actually SCARED him for the first time; not that he took Charming all that seriously during the time he tried to sing before he'd try and kill Shrek himself, but now, he's got Felicia; he's most likely going to use her as a hostage to lure Shrek himself to the base. Donkey and Puss didn't emit a single word; they were just as shocked; seeing this base had made them realise just how much more of a threat Prince Charming is, but most importantly, they were imagining just how much more brutal he'd be. Donkey didn't want his wife to try and attack the base, because she'll most likely be impaled with a bunch of arrows from the crossbows; the best bet is to just go to Duloc, where they can try and get them to invade Charming's regime to save Felicia. As they stared at the base, Shrek began feeling apprehensive; he wants his daughter back. He held hands with Fiona, just hoping that by going to Duloc, they can rescue her.

The carriage was slowly being taken in, and once the base doors had closed, the knight, sitting opposite Rumpelstiltskin and Felicia, had gestured for it to stop; a knight outside of the carriage had opened it, in which he gestured for Rumpelstiltskin to get out first. Using his tiny dwarf feet, Rumpel leaped out from the carriage to a sight he's all too familiar with; horse pens, knights without their helmets amongst small huts, and the scent of coal being burnt to smelt more weaponry. Felicia stepped out next, and once she stepped to the ground, she didn't quite expect the 'fun land' to look like this. She stood besides Rumpel, feeling uncertain about all these strange people. They directed stares at her and Rumpelstiltskin, with some smelting, some smashing hammers, and some in groups. Some were patrolling the border walls with crossbows.

"Right this way..." the knight said, walking towards the building just ahead.

"Yeah, haha, come along, sweet orge, it's time to have fuun!" Rumpel said, in a playful voice, which has been known to deceive quite well.

Felicia held her hands together as she walked slowly; she was starting to miss her dad and mum already. As she walked alongside Rumpel, she could notice some broken arrows on the grass, and a dangerously-looking structure that had sharp steel above a brown basket; she caught up with Rumpel.

"W-Where we are?" she asked, not liking the sight of that structure just now.

"D-don't worry.."

"I'm scared..."

"O-oh...don't be...you'll be f-fine..." Rumpel said; just hearing Felicia admit that she's genuinely terrified, had once again made him drop a tiny guilt barricade in his heart, but again, he still went ahead with the task in hand.

Knights without their helmets gave a scary stare at Felicia, as they were scratching their swords together to sharpen them up. The atmosphere felt very forced; as if these knights weren't allowed to communicate with any outsiders. No utterances, apart from the knight leading them to Charming's building, but instead, scary, firm eye sights. They were clearly thinking about them, but what precisely it was was unknown. Some were wielding deadly crossbows, and some were tending to the horses in their pens, as they were preparing to head on out for the night patrols to capture any trespassers; Charming didn't make the weather a determination in whether or not his knights go out and patrol; in his eyes, to establish clear and firm authority around this land, they have to be strong enough to capture any trespassers in any weather, whether it's raining, cold, snowing, anything.

Felicia looked up to the gigantic building that she, the knight and Rumpelstiltskin stopped in front of; little does she know, that inside this very building, lies one of Shrek's biggest enemies in Prince Charming, in the midst of his deadly knights. The knight opened up the door, and he stood right besides the door to allow Rumpel and Felicia to enter; it was empty, and Rumpelstiltskin recognised the very chairs and table that he sat on; just seeing this place again made him recall when Charming had gave him food, reminding him that he's a generous being. This knight that was guiding them through the intimidating vicinity of the base was clearly of a high-ranking level to Charming, considering it was the same one that had delivered Rumpelstiltskin to the forest earlier this morning. The knight walked into the room with them, as the scent of wood could be smelt all over it. He took a tiny walk over to the left, before stopping to look at Felicia and Rumpelstiltskin in the middle of the room.

"Wait here..." the knight said, going off into the corner of the room to walk upstairs.

There was silence between the tiny orge and Rumpelstiltskin, as he looked to the left and right to see if there was anybody watching. There was nobody, since that knight's now gone up the stairs. Rumpelstiltskin began walking over towards the wooden chairs, the same chairs that he had eaten that food on, to sit on them. He left Felicia standing, but even her looks of uncertainty, with her quite scared baby eyes were getting to his heart; he still had enough greed to put aside his humanity to go through with it, and anyways, he still despises Shrek, so that only curbed his emotions away even further. He held onto the sides of the wooden chair as he began looking up at the roof with smiles and an open mouth; he was so excited.

Felicia began backing up slowly when she could see two knights coming down the steps, followed shortly by their 'dear leader', Prince Charming. No words were uttered, but instead, he was surprised at Rumpelstiltskin's confidence at sitting on these chairs, when they're specifically the property of Charming himself. He began walking towards Rumpel, as he hadn't noticed Charming yet, holding the sword like a staff again. His chin was up proudly, as he held on against the chair ever so slowly, so he wouldn't be heard by Rumpelstiltskin for now.

"Like it?" he asked, causing Rumpelstiltskin to rapidly slide off of the chair, with the atmosphere suddenly becoming intense.

"Ohh, uh...y-yes...uhhh...your majesty.." he nodded, smiling at Charming.

Charming walked over to the front of the chair to stand directly in front of Rumpelstiltskin.

"I thought you might..." he said, neutrally.

Prince Charming gave a glare over at Felicia; yes, it was an orge, but there was a sense that this was far from what Charming himself had wanted. He let off a quiet, snakey-like chuckle as he walked over to the chair that Rumpelstiltskin himself had just sat on.

"So tell me, Rumpel..." Charming said, sitting down on the chair in the process, as he placed the sword against the table.

"Do you suffer with hearing?" he asked, turning his head slightly as he let off the interrogative.

"W-N-no?" Rumpelstiltskin said, laughing nervously at the peculiar and unexpected question.

"Okay, then...did I say..." there was an intentional silence for five seconds from Charming, "bring the orges?"

The two knights, alongside the knight that had just taken them to this room, remained in formation at the steps; they were here to guard their 'dear leader' from any potential attacks. Prior to being informed by the high-ranking knight just now of Felicia and Rumpelstiltskin's arrivals, he was talking with them upstairs, so that's why they were here.

Rumpelstiltskin looked at Felicia, feeling somewhat reluctant in letting her be exposed to Charming in a manner that she was like some sort of animal to be hunted.

"W-Well yes you did, so I-"

Charming stood up from the chair suddenly.

" **THEN HOOOOW...** " Rumpelstiltskin backed up rapidly towards the door, with a face that looked shock and as if a bomb had gone off in front of him, from Charming's unexpected shouting, " **DAAAREEEEE YOU COME, WITH ONE?!** "

The three knights rapidly marched over towards Charming's sides as he yelled, in which they were prompt to take over the situation should their master allow it. It gave Charming an even bigger intimidation factor from Rumpelstiltskin's perspective. Felicia hid behind Rumpelstiltskin as she began crying quietly and whining.

"W-YOU SAI-"

"Rumpel...I asked you for such a simple task..." Charming said, walking slowly towards Rumpelstiltskin, to the point that he began towering over the little guy, and where he could also see Felicia in her crying state.

"I-IT WAS JUST HARD FOR ME..." Rumpel pleaded.

"You couldn't even do that?"

"W-wait, hold on, I KNOW WHERE THEY ARE, STILL! THEY'RE AT THAT ABANDONED VILLAGE, WITH A COUPLE OF GUYS LIVING THERE!"

The three knights all looked at Charming the second Rumpelstiltskin revealed that that abandoned village that his forces had invaded ages ago was still being occupied; he began subtly tapping his fingers against his red leotard, in a desperate desire to just handle those, ESPECIALLY Shrek, supposedly at that village, out. Prince Charming didn't seem to be focusing his attention towards Felicia, but there was a sense that he wasn't going to let her go. The knights watched their leader's gestures, as they were well aware that he was one for having a hatred for those living in an area that he didn't intend to be occupied with any longer.

"Well...you aren't really a loss, totally then, are you?" Charming said, looking at Felicia for a split second before turning back around to sit on the chair.

"W-Charming, I was wondering..." Rumpelstiltskin uttered, causing Charming to turn back around as he was in the middle of the two knights, with the other knight holding a ring of keys, for some reason. "C-Could I...maybe...be given what I was promised, like, now?" this was Rumpel's greed coming out, but it was the worst idea possible.

Prince Charming smiled and chuckled to himself again, in a whispering volume, before he looked to the knight that had brought them here. He spoke to him directly.

"We aren't one to break promises..." Charming, in a satire tone, said, but the knight precisely understood what he wanted to happen with these two.

Prince Charming remained stood up, as he had sent the knight to walk directly to the front of Rumpelstiltskin and Felicia, sword in hand. Rumpel looked confused, but Felicia was the one who was absolutely scared at this point.

"This way..." the knight unveiled a brown trapdoor, one that Rumpelstiltskin had never seen when he was here this morning, "for your REWARD!" he said, sliding out a sword from the sword pocket, to place it onto both their backs; the other knights were unlocking the trapdoor. He's suddenly gone from a conversational knight in the carriage to a hostile knight; this shocked Rumpelstiltskin.

"WAIT...Guard..." Charming said, not wanting them to be imprisoned quite yet, "I think we ought to show our little friends here what they've done for me...take them to the outside whilst I brief the men..."

A hard, sharp sword remained against Felicia's back as she began whispering to herself repeats of her wanting to be back home; this was dangerous, evident by herself and Rumpelstiltskin being taken prisoner.

**ABOUT FIVE MINUTES PASS, AS FELICIA AND RUMPELSTILTSKIN ARE HELD BY THE KNIGHTS**

A line of knights, alongside tamed horses, had stood in front of their sight; Charming looked specifically at the knight that had taken Rumpelstiltskin and Felicia here, walking up to him face-to-face so Felicia and Rumpelstiltskin, being held in place by some other knights, could hear what he has to say intentionally.

"You know what to do..." he said, sending a deadly side-eye to a shocked Rumpelstiltskin; it's now dawned on him that Charming's never liked him, and he's been used.

"Aye, master" the knight said, sprinting off towards the front horse.

"OPEN UP THE GATES, MAN UP YOUR SWORDS!" That specific knight yelled, as the border gates of the base were being opened.

Rumpelstiltskin looked horrified; the thought of being imprisoned scared him, but seeing Felicia, crying and trembling clearly, had made him feel even worse, and that's strange, considering that he's got a fond hatred of her dad. The knights on horses began charging out of the base, with their target being the abandoned village, to kill Shrek and his friends and family. Charming didn't speak a word after he had shown them what they've just started, but instead, he pointed back to the inside of the building, so Felicia and Rumpelstiltskin can finally be imprisoned. Rumpelstiltskin didn't know what to think; this was basically a piece of his own medicine from what he did to Shrek. He doesn't know just how dangerous Charming is, though. Felicia was crying out loud, now, which only caused Rumpelstiltskin to feel more horrified at the prospect of being imprisoned; was it guilt? maybe, but he couldn't force himself to feel that way.

Charming's never liked him; Rumpelstiltskin's realised now, as he was being dragged to the trapdoor, that this was all just a play on him; and now, he's potentially became a victim of the worst and most merciless force in history, even more merciless than his own force back at his alternative universe, perhaps. Felicia was scared, trembling, as she regretted going with this little guy; she wanted her mum and dad back.


	16. Wrath of knights

**CHAPTER 16: Wrath of knights**

They all ran back to the village, all breathless as it dawned on them that they're now being chased by a gigantic collection of knights. Shrek, Twart and Blay and the rest ran back into the initial building in the midst of the dark sky; Charming's knights are just about to close in on them.

"W-WHAT DO WE DO?!" Donkey yelled, genuinely panicking.

Twart slammed the door shut, and he rolled a couple of barrels down from the piles against the back walls to hold them directly against the door, to keep it firmly shut so the knights won't be able to barrage their way in. He also locked it to ensure that it'll remain in place, for that extra security.

"Right...how do we get out of here?!" Fiona asked, as she held onto a scared Fergus, alongside a scared Farkle.

"LISTEN, I NEED YOUR STRENGTH, SHREK, COME OVER HERE...THEY'RE GULLIBLE ENOUGH TO FALL FOR THIS..." Twart said, with Shrek instantly complying; he was convinced just now, as they ran back to the village, that those knights wield gigantic metal swords that can create a half of anybody in a split second, even an orge, prompting Shrek to back off and retreat.

Puss stood there, as he unveiled his tiny sword, in the event that the knights break into here; he can at least try to fight back.

"W-WHAT ARE WE DOING?!" Shrek asked.

"J-STOP ASKING QUESTIONS AND LISTEN CLOSELY..." Twart said, pushing Shrek's head against the wall so his long ear was against it.

Shrek's main priority was getting his family to safety, because these knights weren't like the ones that served Farquaad; Charming's knights feared nobody. Shrek simply shoved Twart away, upon the realisation that the clock is ticking, and he could somehow sense a bunch of dangerous thugs approaching from the outside of this building.

"JUST HELP ME GET OUT OF HERE..."

"I'M DOING THAT, RIGHT NOW..." Twart yelled.

The knights all stopped, in numbers of tens, as the head knight had briefly unveiled his face from his helmet; through the windows, he could make out a bunch of figures moving about, and these were the targets set by Prince Charming just now. He was breathing steadily, standing by his brown horse, before turning over to his fellow knights situated behind him and his horse in various rows.

"Bring them..." he said, prompting the knights to advance directly into the abandoned village on their horses, as they could see the shadows of the figures of Shrek and the rest moving through the lit-up windows.

The knights gestured for their fellow companions to move directly to the front door, and that's precisely what they did. They get off their horses. One of the knights placed their hands on the door knob, only to find that it's clearly been barricaded from the inside. They had a solution to this, that had worked every single time; simply barrage through the door by knocking it off of it's handles via their metal bodies.

"DO YOU THINK THIS'LL WORK?!" Donkey asked Twart, after Twat had finished briefing everybody on the plan.

"ONLY IF YOU BELIEVE IT WILL-" There was a thunderous bang from the front door; everybody suddenly became sweaty inside as it dawned on them that the knights were just a couple of footsteps away from potentially pulling them into the fate of Felicia.

"READY?! BANG!" The knights yelled, charging as if they were in a battle towards the door, emitting a thunderous collision from it and their armour, shoulder first.

They didn't communicate to the targets inside, for they didn't want them to get any ideas from hearing them; by not communicating with the targets, they'll be able to, in an easier manner, take them away without the targets themselves being aware of who they are, making for a stealthier, easier, and less-of-a-battle job. The problem is, those 'targets' know exactly who they are already, and why they're here.

"OH MY GOD...MUMMY..." Fergus and Farkle cried, as they were waiting for Twart and Shrek to execute their plan before the knights barrage into the building.

The barrels in front of the door were slightly being moved by each collision from the knights outside; time was running out.

"It's okay...close your eyes...we'll be okay...we'll be okay..." Fiona said, trying not to cry herself, in which she prompt Fergus and Farkle to hide their faces on her shoulders, not wanting them to be scared out of the dangerous knights trying to get in here.

"COME ON, GET ON WITH IT!" Donkey yelled.

"AMIGO, LET ME HANDLE THEM-"

"NO, THERE, IT'S DONE! THEY DON'T SEE! GO GO GO GO!" Twart yelled, as whatever plan he and Shrek executed just now had worked out in the nick of luck.

"HURRY!" The knights yelled, with three of them charging at the door this time.

The second their bodies slammed against the thick wooden layer of the door, they were sent sliding onto their sides as the door had loosened it's grip on the handles keeping it in place; much like the other doors of the other buildings when the knights broke them down, it collapsed harshly as it had thrust forwards onto the barrels, causing them to roll away on their sides. As soon as the inside of the building was exposed to an open doorway, the knights from the outside all leaped over the broken door and in, only to find that it's empty. They took all their helmets off, to study the place, but then, they noticed a gigantic hole within the wood, as if somebody or something had punched through it; they walked ever so slowly towards the hole as they had their big swords out in preparation for taking the targets initially, and they had come to realise that the orges had used their strength to pummel their fist (it was Shrek who did it) through the wood. They backed up and outside the building to regroup, and to retrace the path that Shrek and his family have ran in.

"I WASN'T MADE FOR THAT, HONESTLY, DIDN'T WANNA DO IT IN FRONT OF THEM.." Shrek said, referring to his kids, as Twart and Blay had a few splinters on their hands from crawling through the wooden hole.

"HUNNY, WE HAD NO CHOICE..."

"BOY, YOU GOT THAT RIGHT, FIONA.." Donkey exclaimed, as he ran alongside Shrek into the forest.

They stopped suddenly, in front of the trees, as they looked out to the open field; small balls of flames in the distance were approaching, as they could hear the sound of horses running increase in volume gradually; it hit on them, significantly.

"T-They know we're here..." Fiona said, shockingly, as Puss once again got his small spikey sword out, in case Charming's deadly and merciless knights had caught up.

"QUICK, THIS WAY!" Twart yelled, running right into the forest, as Shrek began sighing; he had to run, though, because if those knights find them, he'll have to cope with being handled by swords that he's never seen before; especially his family.

They pummeled through the forest, as they began being cornered off by the thick branches of the trees.

"RUN!" Shrek yelled, as he ensured that Fiona held Fergus and Farkle tightly; the dronkey's were STILL flying above with the group.

Everybody began sweating slightly, but what else could they do? these knights are literally going to KILL them if they find their presence.

Suddenly, the entire running came to a halt; there was a huge collection of trees just in front of the group, as Puss held his sword out to the direction opposite of where the group was looking; behind them. Twart and Blay looked at each other in panic, as Fiona and Shrek looked at each other, panicked and worked up with trying to outrun their deaths, literally; but they're BLOCKED at the minute, it's a dead end.

"YOU SHOULD HAVE BROUGHT THAT AXE!" Fiona said to Shrek.

"I DIDN'T THINK WE'D HAVE TO RUNN!" Shrek replied, as Twart and Blay had managed to squeeze through the branches.

Shrek, Donkey, Fiona, Puss and the dronkeys all squeezed through the branches, albeit struggling particularly with the orges due to their size. Shrek got in first, and this area seemed to be semi-safe since it's vacant, and all the branches behind themselves had given them a camouflage from the knights approaching behind from the open field; they could potentially make the knights miss them by remaining here. Twart and Blay collapsed onto the ground, and Shrek did the same, but as soon as they all finally relaxed from the running, the atmosphere suddenly hit on them.

"I-I'm so sorry, kids..." Fiona said, hugging Fergus and Farkle.

"M-Mum...I miss Felicia..." Fargus said, as if he was about to sob; he was not only scared, he was also unsure about where his sister was.

Shrek looked down at the ground as he sat down; Donkey walked over to his best friend and he sat down directly besides him, as Shrek's ears were down in sadness and depression; it dawned on him just now that he was acting like a jerk to Felicia prior to her being captured by Prince Charming.

"I was...too hard on her..." Shrek said, with Twart and Blay keeping watch amongst the branches, as the group sat down.

"Amigo, it happens..." Puss said, actually exhausted from all of that running from the knights.

"No, Shrek, we all were...but we'll save her, I promise, hunny..." Fiona declared.

"Alright you guys, the games up, they're coming this way..." Twart said, "we have to MOVE..."

"Forget it, let them take me...I'm useless enough, anyways..." Shrek said.

The sound of horses running was increasing in volume around the atmosphere; the group began panicking, and they were starting to feel as if their lives were about to be trapped underneath a gigantic dome, it felt that terrifying of the knights being this close. Twart, on the other hand, had an idea; it was something reminiscent of how he saved Blay that night at the invasion, except, this time, it'll be for EVERYONE here.

"You guys...go and hide in those bushes...I'll...I'll stand up to them..."

**THE GROUP ALL HIDE OUT, WITH BLAY BEING RELUCTANT**

"HALT! HALT! STOP RIGHT THERE!" The knights yelled, as they could pick out a standing figure, with Shrek and his group hiding out in the bushes.

Donkey had to keep his legs onto the mouths of all his dronkeys, and Fiona had to do the same for Fergus and Farkle with her hands; this wasn't going to be a pleasant sight, at ALL. Twart stood still, as the knights briefly circled him on their horses, before they slid off of their saddle packs to circle him once again.

"Greetings, idiots...you lost something?" Twart said, wanting to insult them.

"DON'T TRY AND BE SMART...you're lucky we're here for a specific reason...we're looking for some orges..." one of them said, continuing to circle Twart.

"Hah, orges? are you dumb? go back to where you came from, or else, you utter jacka-"

A knight from behind had gripped Twart around his throat, with speed that looked as if it was paced in under a second the second he emitted that threat; Twart moaned in pain, as he looked vulnerable for the first time ever. Fiona had to stop Fergus and Farkle from crying out of the violent scene unfolding before them; Blay had to resist from coming out. Twart's throat felt like it was being wrapped around by a really big python, as the cold, hard metal of the knight's armour had surrounded his throat, with a sword suddenly being pointed directly onto the side of his head.

"Your reward will be your life...hahahahah, it's worthless, of course..." the approaching knight chuckled, "but still...where are the creatures?" he asked, as they had Twart held in a position where they could easily impale him or choke him out.

The group watched on through the bushes in anticipation; was he going to reveal their location? they couldn't think straight due to their fight or flight senses getting the most of themselves at the moment.

"W-West...they ran west..."

The knight in front of Twart simply sighed and looked at the other knights around Twart's held body.

"Hunt them out..." The knight said.

The knight holding Twart simply grabbed ahold of his top and the top of his ripped pants, as he rapidly sent Twart slamming back-first against one of the branches of the trees, like a bowling ball against skittles. He once again moaned in severe pain as he slid from the branch to the ground, as the knights began evacuating to the direction that he had said for them to go in; they didn't capture Twart, because they weren't aware that he's actually in on knowing Shrek, and plus, for tonight, where they have to hunt for an orge, all the trespassers weren't worth their time, for now. The group remained in the bushes, waiting for all of the knights to leave the vicinity entirely, before tending to Twart.

A few minutes later, they had set up a fire with a bunch of logs, to keep Twart warm in particular, after he had tricked the knights away.

"Being better yet?" Fergus asked, still holding onto his mother.

"Well, little guy, I wish I could say that their voices were worse than their grips...OUCH..." he moaned, as he tried to move his neck slightly.

"Jesus, you weren't THIS pain-easy during the invasion?"

"L-Listen you guys...I think it's probably for the best if me and Blay remain here..." Twart said, which caused Donkey, Shrek, Fiona and Puss to gasp.

"Y-You guys are leaving?" Shrek asked.

"We have to, and we don't wanna get you caught...and plus, the time is short, and me and Blay here can remain here as a distraction for when you get to Duloc..."

"Have you ever been to Duloc, before?" Donkey asked, recalling the time in which he and Shrek had operated the welcoming song machine years ago.

"We've heard of it, but honestly? I bet you'll be glad to have them on your side when you battle Prince Charming..."

Fiona and Shrek gulped, before looking back at Blay and Twart.

"B-But we're not planning on fighting Charming?" Shrek said, unable to finish his utterance due to Blay.

"But surely...get him alone, and you'll have him?"

Donkey turned to Shrek, as he held his hooves carefully over the fire, "he's got a point, Charming's gone too far this time..."

Shrek and Fiona looked at each other as the sound of burning sticks from the fire had emitted, alongside the scent of burning wood. They looked at everyone, including Puss briefly, before Shrek finally finished off what he wanted to say behind his interrupted utterance.

"W-We just want our daughter back..." he said, causing everyone to look at the fire as he held hands with Fiona again, in anticipation for the plan of saving her.


	17. Bad to worse

**CHAPTER 17: Bad to worse**

Beneath the trapdoor, in the midst of a ladder, rested a large, metal door in which it was locked. Beyond those big metal doors rested one gigantic prison cave; there were ten metal posts jammed into the ground, where each one had three metal chains, allowing three prisoners per post. The area for the most part was dry, but there were some parts of it that had mud, and just generally areas that consisted of unpleasant looking stains. It was also cold, too. It was like one gigantic hallway, except it was underground, and it was completely concealed off to the entire outside world. The idea of it being underground came from the reality that a surface prison would risk prisoners escaping, so by having it underground, they'll never be able to witness the day of light again.

Just at the corner of this underground, depressing imprisonment, rested Rumpelstiltskin and Felicia, as their legs were hooked onto the metal chain of their post, where they were officially prisoners of Charming's regime. There were some beaten up folks, ones that seemed to come from Duloc, and there were some fairy tale creatures; Captain Hook, for instance, and he had a shiner on his left eye; clearly, Prince Charming doesn't like his prisoners getting an easy life from just sitting here, expecting nothing. And then there were some other folks, who looked like they hadn't been fed in forever.

Prince Charming had left a plate of bread and a cup of water on the ground specifically for Rumpelstiltskin, with him only just noticing them. The tiny, trembling dwarf picked up the bread, as he studied it upon switching it around in the air of his grasp in every angle possible; he took a bite into it, only to find that it was as hard as a rock, and then shortly after that, he noticed a bunch of mouldy sections on the bread; he instantly tossed it back down to the plate, before lifting up the cup of water. He looked right into the cup, only to find that it was completely empty; of course, Prince Charming would deliberately do something like that to his prisoners. Rumpelstiltskin, looking at a Felicia who had her head down on her legs as she was crying in secrecy, looked back at his moulded bread; perhaps orges like those? he felt...different for actually feeling like doing something that wouldn't satisfy his greed, nor something bad; he was actually going to do something to help somebody else, and it was a strange, strange sensation for him to feel.

"Hey...little orge?" he whispered, trembling as the chain, locked around his leg, had caused him to feel as if he was being held by a gigantic weight on the ground, "do you wanna eat this?"

Felicia looked up, and she saw the bread. She couldn't talk, as she was too scared to do so. She nodded at Rumpel, who, upon noticing the nod, had instantly picked up the mouldy bread to hand it over to Felicia. He dragged himself across the ground, with the chains emitting a jingle in the process from all of the metal colliding, towards Felicia, where he instantly handed it over to her. The second she got her tiny green orge hands on the bread, she munched right onto it. For the first time in his life time, Rumpelstiltskin didn't do something to benefit his greed or generally a bad thing of his...and actually, watching somebody react positively to an action that he does is quite fun to watch. It felt good to do a different type of action for once, especially after what he did to Shrek in his alternative universe. Even if it meant sacrificing his greed, seeing Felicia happy made him feel better about himself; it was as if he was starting to show a bit of humanity.

"A-Are you okay, dear little orge?" Rumpelstiltskin said, realising that he's got himself into this big debacle by biting off more than he could chew in the form of becoming a victim of Prince Charming, where he's basically getting an eviler taste of his own medicine thus far.

"I want daddy..." she trembled, in her innocent, and tiny voice as she munched on the bread.

There was an ambience coming from above, as the other prisoners around this cave didn't move much at all, nor did Captain Hook, for that matter, who still lacked his hook on his handless arm, from the time that Charming had deliberately snatched it off. It was cold...it was depressing, and the colouration of brown surrounding the entirety of the prison cave didn't help the mood in the slightest. Felicia looked up at her 'little friend' as he stared at the ground with his chin on his knees from raising his legs up.

"Y-You said we have fun?" she said, gradually munching on the mouldy bread.

"I-I..." he couldn't make himself lie to a little child like Felicia any longer, even though he's had a really bad history with her father, "I made a mistake, little orge..." he said, wiping his nose briefly.

"Will me be safe?" she asked, with Rumpelstiltskin unable to answer that; Prince Charming is heavily unpredictable.

"I-I don't know..." he answered, with full honesty, as suddenly, a bunch of keys ringing amongst each other could be heard from behind the big metal door.

Suddenly, the sound of the metal door unlocking had been heard all across the cave, prompting the prisoners to back up, and in turn, for Rumpelstiltskin to slowly return to the spot he was in before giving the bread to Felicia; Prince Charming opened the metal door with a hard, aggressive grip, where upon entering the prison cave, he instantly gripped his scary eye sight onto Rumpelstiltskin, and in turn, he was walking right over to their metal post. Rumpel looked up in fear, as Felicia once again placed her head down to the ground. He dragged himself slowly away as Charming was approaching.

"My knights..." he firmly stated, "practically DEMOLISHED that building...Shrek and the lot...are NOWHERE to be found?" he said, placing one hand against his rib, in which he held the sword with it.

Rumpelstiltskin looked confused, as he scattered his eye sights to the left and right, not sure about what he should say to this; two knights had walked into the prison cave with Charming, where they stood directly behind him. Charming suddenly ducked down and grasped upon Rumpelstiltskin's upper top, to raise him up off of the ground, as if he was holding him by the neck. The chain that his one leg was locked onto had began echoing a gigantic amount of jingling as Charming was raising the tiny deal-maker off of the ground with ease; showcasing some scary strength.

"Where did they go?" Charming asked, masking an angry expression, right into Rumpel's own face as he was held up by the top.

"I-I-I don't knowww..." Rumpelstiltskin said, sounding all stuttering-like and as if he was about to cry, the result of trying to talk whilst being held up in the air.

Charming simply nodded, looking at him face-to-face, "then you're of no more usage to me..." he said, just dropping Rumpelstiltskin back onto the ground with a hard collision, showing no mercy.

Charming took his sword and raised it up into the air; Rumpelstiltskin realised that he was about to be killed, and he needed something to save himself, QUICKLY.

"W-WAIT!" Rumpel pleaded, with Charming keeping the sword in the air as he was JUST stopped from killing Rumpel by the tiny deal-maker potentially offering new information about the whereabouts of Shrek and his friends.

"T-T-T..." he was trying to remember something on the spot, "t-they SAID SOMETHING ABOUT DULOC!" he said.

Prince Charming instantly lowered his sword from the air, as he looked at Rumpelstiltskin with a straight, yet still intimidating face. The sound of 'Duloc' instantly made Charming think of a place that was somewhat like Far-Far-away.

"Duloc?" he formally said, "where?"

Rumpel had no clue where Duloc was; the only place he knows of is Far-Far-away.

"Actually, hold that thought, let me turn...to HER..." Charming said, pointing his sword right at Felicia.

Felicia began crying once again, as Charming didn't bat an eye, nor did he care, at the orge crying. As this was Shrek's daughter, something Charming himself acknowledged, he wasn't going to hold back from communicating with her like he would with any other prisoner.

"You're going to tell me..." he said, ducking down to Felicia, as the two knights surrounded her, "where is...Duloc?"

She looked up at him, as she was still a tiny little orge; she wasn't going to answer his question. She blew her tongue right in his face.

"I WANT TO BE BACK HOMEE!" She yelled, with Charming laughing, before suddenly becoming straight with his face.

" **WHERE...IS...DULOC, YOU DISGUSTING THING?!** " He yelled, with Rumpelstiltskin instantly feeling his heart pop; Felicia was sobbing the second Charming yelled; he just had to interfere.

"H-Hold on there, she's only a baby, uh, Charming, s-she can't be expected to know anything? how can you shout at-" his chain was suddenly yanked backwards by one of the knights, as Charming looked down at Rumpelstiltskin with a disgusted-looking expression.

Rumple suddenly collapsed onto his chest, with his chest hitting the ground first as a result of the yank of his chain. Landing on his chin, his teeth accidentally bit into his lips, where he could feel a bit of pain, and tapping his fingers onto his lips, a tiny, minor amount of blood was evident on his finger from his lip.

"I said...where is Duloc..." Charming asked, once again, standing up this time, rather than ducking down at Felicia.

Felicia was just trembling to the point that her voice could be heard; she was sobbing tears, as if she needed buckets to contain them all, and she simply couldn't help but emit an upset, shakey, stuttering sound that would usually be heard after a child's been crying for an extended amount of time. Rumpelstiltskin at this point thought that Charming was demanding an answer from either of them, and just now, he was about to kill Rumpelstiltskin himself in the prison cave, so he felt like he needed to answer to save his life.

"I-I don't know, but, we left before they gave...details..." Rumpelstiltskin said.

Prince Charming was prompt into looking at Felicia briefly, before looking back at Rumpelstiltskin as he began uttering his second explanation.

"W-WE CAME HERE as you said..."

Prince Charming wanted to see something other than a clear friendship between these two...he stared at them both for seven seconds, concluding on how he can divide them instantly.

"GUAAAARDDDD" he yelled, with one of the knights standing in formation as the other prisoners around the cave didn't even look up at the commotion, but to hear a child cry, it was hard NOT to look; it sounded absolutely dreadful.

"Yes, your majesty?"

"Release the orge..." he said, with the knight sighing upon the order.

The knight was carrying a large hammer, as he ducked down to the chain attached to Felicia's leg. He smashed the hammer hard into the metal, which acted as the trigger into unlocking the chain. Charming pointed to the space in front of him, where he was directing the knight to situate Felicia.

"Get up..." Prince Charming demanded, as Rumpelstiltskin instantly did it the second that scary imperative was uttered; Felicia and himself at this point were face-to-face.

"Now then, Rumpel..." Charming said, ducking down besides both Felicia and Rumpel, "why not tell her about why she's here in the first place, huh?"

Rumpelstiltskin couldn't do it; he felt like he's genuinely established a good companionship with Felicia, too good, in fact, to reveal his hatred of her farther. He nodded a blatant no. Charming suddenly grabbed ahold of Rumpel's chin, looking him dead in his eyes.

"You're on my last nerve, and I could easily make an impaling out of you...tell...HER...who is it that you hate, huh?" Charming said, as the knight had held Felicia in place.

Prince Charming deliberately shook Rumpel's head before aggressively moving his hand off of his chin; there was no choice for him at this point; he either tells Felicia the truth, or he faces being executed.

"I-...I didn't bring you here...sweet...cute orge...for fun...I..I...I..."

"You WHAT?!" Charming interrupted.

"I brought you here...because...I wanted to bring your dad...to his...e-end..." he reluctantly confessed, instantly feeling like his heart had dropped out of his body.

The look on Felicia's expression said it all; she was only a young kid, but even she was able to mask an expression that sort of spelt 'you betrayed me, then?!'. Charming couldn't help but get a giggle out of the imploding he's just started.

"Yep, so orge, do you know why you're here, truly?" Charming asked, staring down at a scared Felicia.

"Because I...miss...daddy..."

Charming skipped her answer entirely.

"You're here...because he...turned you in..." he pointed his sword directly at Rumpelstiltskin, causing the little guy to slowly sit back down, "because he hates your dad...for messing up his tiny, obnoxious little contract shop..."

Prince Charming was told everything that Rumpelstiltskin himself had admitted to the knight in the carriage when he was being taken back to the forest. Felicia looked back at Rumpelstiltskin, with an open mouth and shiny, tear-filled eyes; he couldn't look at her directly anymore, for the guilt was now finally building up inside of him. Charming simply dropped his sword so he was holding it like a staff again, looking at Rumpel as if he was saying 'shame on you' but you could tell that he was loving this break up of a friendship.

"Take her upstairs..." he said to the knight, in which the knight once again nodded. He began directing Felicia up towards the metal door, as Charming had the intent of leaving Rumpel here.

Felicia kept looking back at Rumpelstiltskin with an open mouth; if he looks at her, Rumpel might just cry.

"And ready my carriage..." he said to the other knight, "tomorrow morning, Rumpelstiltskin here will get more than just a reward..."

Rumpelstiltskin couldn't stop looking at the ground; he was at the brink of crying, evident from the big frown and saddened eyes he's got on his face. Charming simply looked at him with disgust, before walking back over to the metal door. The second the metal door was slammed shut and locked, Rumpel covered his hands all over his head as he planted his head into his knees; he was alone, cold, but now, he's been stranded, and he now realises that what he's done this entire time has led to this demise; he wanted to fix himself, and the more he recalls Felicia's shocked and betrayed face just now, the more saddened and heart broke he got.


	18. Journey to Duloc

**CHAPTER 18: Journey to Duloc**

Shrek, Fiona and the rest didn't sleep in the night; the sooner they get to Duloc, the higher chance they have of rescuing Felicia from the hands of Prince Charming in an alive state, prompting them to have an all-nighter and walk through the darkness. They managed to avoid being seen by the knights, too. Most likely, though, as soon as Charming gave the order to them to just go to the village and put down his enemies, they didn't bother patrolling all around the land any longer, and after the point that Twart had managed to survive what would have potentially been a deadly sacrifice, they probably evacuated from the vicinity upon the realisation that their order had became a failure.

Shrek and the rest were tired, and of course, walking for miles and miles in countless open fields, hopelessly scattering the land in the hopes of retracing the path that Shrek and Donkey had taken those years ago to get to Duloc when Shrek wanted to talk to Farquaad was a task that nobody would want to pursue. In this case, though, Shrek's daughter was at stake, and potentially her life, so it wasn't a choice, but instead, an imperative.

It felt weird without Blay and Twart, because Shrek had genuinely come to like them a lot. Twart in particular had sacrificed himself to the knights, and if it wasn't for them encountering Blay, they might of possibly been arrested by Charming's knights at this point, so they had a lot to pay back, even though they realistically couldn't find anything that'll pay the favor. Fergus and Farkle, on the other hand, had all slept through the night as Shrek and Fiona had took it in turns to hold them; their arms would get tired, which meant that they realistically had no choice. Dawn was emerging upon the land, where, upon the sun's gradual ascension up into the sky, it made Shrek wonder if Felicia was still safe, and not harmed in anyway.

"So uh...whatchu gonna do about Prince Charming, Shrek?" Donkey asked, walking besides the orge, carrying Fergus and Farkle.

He didn't look like he was in the mood to talk about that; just the thought of Felicia being locked away in the hands of a dangerous person had made him feel all worried and apprehensive again, and instead, he wanted to focus on getting to Duloc. When he gets there, he'll feel much better in himself, as he'll be able to hopefully track down whoever's took over from the time Farquaad was in power, in which Duloc was, and still is potentially, a dictatorship.

"Let's not talk about him, Donkey.." Fiona said, making a gesture secretly to Donkey which had basically said 'it's not a good idea'.

Shrek responded anyways.

"I really...really...hope he doesn't hurt Felicia...I'm gonna make it up to her...I will...I will.." he said, giving himself an affirmation.

"Don't you just hate the type of people who bring up a topic that you really wish they hadn't brung up?" Donkey asked, trying to steer the conversation into a different topic upon the realisation that it's not a good idea to remind Shrek that his daughter is imprisoned in Charming's regime, alongside another waste of space (in Shrek's eyes), Rumpelstiltskin.

Puss looked at Donkey with an embarrassing gesture as he kept his hand on the handle of his sword; Donkey had basically just described himself at this very moment.

"Self-analysis, huh? that sums you up perfectly.." he said.

"Pipe down, cat!" Donkey exclaimed.

Their eyes felt sleepy and weak, but the determination to get Felicia back to safety TODAY was keeping them awake. Eventually, they all ended up in a completely open field, with nature exposing itself to its fullest extent; green grass, albeit a cloudy sky, even though the sun was still penetrating through the clouds, and it wasn't windy. They were following what looked like a path formation on the ground, and there was a time in which Donkey and Shrek, on their initial journey to Duloc years ago, appeared to be following a path-like formation on the ground, through the forest in particular when Shrek was carrying Fiona on his shoulder to marry Lord Farquaad; that was the same thing now, except they weren't in a forest, but instead, an average looking-field of openness. The sun's light was still shining through the grey clouds, providing a less-depressing atmosphere.

"H-Hunny?" Fiona said, wanting to talk to Shrek about Prince Charming, despite gesturing to Donkey just now that it perhaps wasn't a good idea to bring him up to Shrek. "W-What if Charming refuses? look, look, I know this isn't how you want to start off the morning, but we have to be real here...what if...what if-"

"Then I'll have to take her by force. The only reason why Charming's getting even a glimpse of retreat from me is because his knights pose a serious threat to MY family, and that's literally it. Had I have been by myself back there when she wandered off with that evil, cruel, heartless little man? I'd be willing to take him on, face to face.."

Shrek talks a big game here, but he hasn't even seen the full picture of how Prince Charming nowadays operates. He'd be easily overwhelmed by the amount of knights that he's got.

"Shrek, stop it, did you see what they did to Twart last night?"

"Fiona, I don't want these apprehensive feelings going around my head...let's just get to DULOC," his voice was intensifying out of the annoyance of Charming being mentioned, "and let's focus on getting our daughter back before...you know what, okay? as far as I'm concerned, once we get Felicia back, we're going ELSEWHERE, and then he can keep that filthy little, sly Rumpel, perhaps he can be given an insight into what I went through in thanks to him..."

Shrek meant it; the only thing that he wasn't bothered about in regards to Prince Charming was the fact that he's also got Rumpelstiltskin captured; that was good, in the orge's eyes. What Shrek doesn't know however, is that Rumpel's experience of being imprisoned in a deadly, dangerously growing regime has led to him getting onto the road of becoming 'human', somebody who was once agitated by his entire business being ruined thanks to Shrek is now, in thanks to the evilness of Charming, and the guilt subsequently emerging inside Rumpel, starting to realise that it's a much better persona to take in being somebody who helps others, rather than things for himself to satisfy his own greed, which effectively blinds him from the negative and dangerous impacts it has on others; this was the case when he trapped Shrek, for instance, in that alternative universe to satisfy his greedy desire of ruling over Far-Far-away, and in turn, satisfying his desire to gain revenge against the orge at the time.

Rumpelstiltskin also realised something, specifically from last night when he was in the prison cave of Charming's: it, strangely enough, provided a genuinely good-feeling sensation from just seeing the others be happy and benefit from the actions you do for them, whereas when he did things to satisfy his deadly-at-times greed, he thought it'd feel good, but he didn't feel anything, let alone good. It was helping him create an entirely new perspective on things like that, in contrast to his previous perspective.

Eventually, they reached a hilly-part of the field, where, upon standing on the top of it, unveiled was a gigantic field of big sunflowers, and just in the distance rested one gigantic castle, that, should it be compared with Charming's base, dwarfed it. Shrek suddenly started smiling uncontrollably, as did Fiona; Donkey and Puss looked astonished, as they too were just as scared and worried about whether or not Felicia was still alive. By seeing Duloc's castle, though, those thoughts suddenly were eradicated to replace the optimism that the entire group was seeing from the sight of Duloc's castle. They sighed, though, when realising that there was still a big gap between themselves and the actual sunflower field.

"Fergus, Farkle, wake up..." Fiona said, quietly but cheerfully, as she wanted to show them the castle in the far distance.

The two orge kids woke up reluctantly, as Fiona pointed off into the distance with her green fingers, yet Fergus and Farkle had no clue on what this meant.

"We're nearly there! I can already sense Felicia's presence already!" Donkey excitingly exclaimed, with Fergus and Farkle catching on; they were suddenly knocked out of their tired states the second Donkey uttered that.

"W-she coming back?!" Fergus asked, with Fiona and Shrek both nodding slowly with gigantic smiles, remaining hopeful that this plan will go as expected.

"Congratulations, amigo..." Puss said, taking off his hat to bow, for some reason, before putting it back on.

"See that? that's Duloc, Fergus, just across this final batch of land we've gotta walk across..." Shrek sounded genuinely uplifted, and somewhat emotional, because now he's starting to imagine what it'll be like to see Felicia again when she's saved.

"It's so far..." Farkle said.

"Well haha, it's our world, it's not small, Farkle.." Fiona chuckled, kissing her two baby boys in her arms.

It all rang a bell to Shrek, entirely; not only did his eyes pick up the Duloc castle a far distance away, but that sunflower field had rotten cabbages, and some other farm stuff amongst it. There was a wooden windmill building that's been abandoned for years and years, and there was a gigantic oak tree that had begun a trend of a forest over at a diagonal direction; this was the place where Shrek and Donkey were arguing about onions.

"I-I know this place..." Shrek said, feeling even more optimistic.

"At this point, we'll pluck Felicia out of Charming's grasp like an onion from the ground.." Donkey said.

Now, a gap had formed in the clouds where the sun's shine was fully penetrating through to the ground, but the grey clouds were appearing as if they were behind the shine, just flowing slowly to it's direction. This made it appear as if the remaining grey and darkened clouds were chasing the shine, as if it's trying to stop the shine from accomplishing it's goal of a breakthrough.

**BACK AT CHARMING'S BASE**

Prince Charming had concealed Felicia in another part of his base, deliberately doing so so he could make both her and Rumpelstiltskin depressed. The knights had a bunch of swords and battleaxes against Rumpel's back, as he was being pushed out of the main and stone building of the regime's base. As soon as he stepped out, the entire base of knights had horses on the ready, and this wasn't even a joke; there appeared to be well over 40+ knights all lined up, and in the distance rested a carriage. The knights holding Rumpelstiltskin hostage at the moment so he'll forcefully exit the prison cave stopped in front of the door, ensuring that their weapons were remained, pointing directly into the dwarf's back.

Rumpel looked all over the formation with a gasped face, and wordless as to the sight he was seeing; some of these knights had thicker armour, and some had crossbows. Notably, the prison cave was locked the second Rumpelstiltskin had exited it, leaving the other prisoners inside, and it appeared as if all the pens, huts, smelting sections, weaponry buildings, everything was no longer occupied, as if everybody had a horse. Feeling stiff and as if his bones were showing right through his skin due to absolutely no food, another deliberate act by Charming, Rumpelstiltskin was feeling dreadful as always; he hadn't realised just how merciless the guy who at one time offered him food in exchange for a favour to lure the orges back to the base for a 'position of power' was.

"You ought to be afraid, Rumpel..." Charming said, increasing his voice as he climbed out of the carriage.

Rumpelstiltskin wasn't able to do anything other than talk; should he make a wrong move, the knights behind him with weapons will instantly deal him some intense damage.

Simply put, Rumpelstiltskin's voice was too agile and weak to talk from all of the suffering he's gone through.

"Let me remind you of something..." he said, ducking right down to Rumpel as he looked at the ground with a dreadful expression.

The knights were all waiting for the command. They yanked him aggressively, so he was forced to look up at Charming's face.

"What a disgrace it must have been, huh? to think that you...of all things...a tiny little dwarf, would accomplish the one thing I have been striving for..."

Charming rapidly placed his hand onto Rumpel's chin, forcing him to look up again. He kept it there.

"Nobody...and I mean nobody...does it better than I do. So here's the plan, Rumpel...we're gonna take your word for it, and we'll be heading on a nice little trip to make a visit to your group of mere creatures...in which I'll show you what you've wanted to see this entire time, hey? to see that orge flesh pummeled into pieces, haha, you want that, hey?"

Rumpelstiltskin looked up at Charming shockingly; what did he mean by 'orge flesh pummeled into pieces'?

"But you haven't heard the best part...when I'm finished with Shrek and his band of clinging fools, it'll be your turn...yeah, all of that gossip of you...wanting to inflict pain...well I'm gonna give you an opportunity to experience it...first hand...and as for your tiny little orge friend? she's in the carriage at the minute, as will you, but I've got drastically different plans for her..."

Rumpelstiltskin looked up at Charming; 'why was he doing this' is the main question that did circles in his deal-making head.

"B-But why..." Rumpelstiltskin struggled.

"Why? because when myself and my knights become the governing group of the land, after we've killed our target, my intentions for killing my most hated prisoners will NOT be eradicated...when I'm in control, not only will you not be around to see what the power of my forces can do, but you'll also not be around to see what I'm gonna put Felicia through..."

Rumpelstiltskin was getting scary chills; what on earth was Charming talking about?

"I'm going to make her wish...as the daughter of the most vile creature living, that she had died a long time ago...and P.S, the extra extra best part?" he leaned into Rumpel's ear; "nobody...can...stop...me..."

Rumpelstiltskin began stuttering false-starts, such as beginnings of words that he simply didn't end up uttering entirely. He began trembling subtly in his tiny legs, as Charming stood up. He could feel sweat run down his forehead upon the realisation that Charming's motivation had solidified the point; Rumpel's made a huge, huge mistake. He gulped, as Charming laughed at his clear panic.

"When you're ready, soon-to-be-eradicated..." Charming said, walking to the carriage.

A few minutes later, Charming's entire 40+ knights, basically the entirety of the base, were on the fields, as they were all charging towards where they think Duloc is in one big gigantic group; it sounded like a war ground, with all of the hooves of the horses making for a bombing sound there were that many. Charming was sat in the carriage, holding the sword up blade first against the ground, as he suddenly looked down slowly to Felicia and Rumpelstiltskin, tied up to a wooden post inside the carriage, forcing them to sit on the ground of the carriage. Charming didn't speak, but instead, he slowly moved his sword up whilst looking at Rumpel in particular; he rubbed the sharp, shiny blade of the sword before briefly looking at Felicia, hinting at what's coming next. He placed the sword back down before blatantly looking back up to see where his forces were heading as the carriage was moving at a speed that had the same amount as his knights all around. He was looking up as if they weren't even there.

That's it; Rumpel wants to change, the thought of imminently being killed made him buckle inside, he even wanted to try and make it up with Shrek. He felt like he was being dragged down into water where he simply couldn't curb the drowning due to being dragged deeper from the surface. How can he go about accomplishing this when he's under the capture of the most drastically-transformed person? in that he went from being a mother's boy with Fairy Godmother to one of the most deadly, cruel, dictatorial figures to ever be given the title of 'Enemy of Shrek'.

Charming himself was personally going to track Shrek and his group down, hence why he's got his entire force with him. He's developed too much strength in his governing-overtake intention to be stopped at this point.


	19. Imminent danger

**CHAPTER 19: Imminent danger**

Now that Duloc was basically in their sight, the group figured that it'd probably be the perfect time now to rest. They all sat on the ground, as Fergus and Farkle were gradually waking up in their energy. The grey clouds were clearing up in the sky, but they weren't gone entirely. Shrek and his family have the opportunity now to talk about what the actual plan is for when they get to Duloc; Shrek had no idea if it was as the same as it was when he first went there, or if there's been drastic changes not just politically, but style, and the layout of the city. From the gigantic castle in the distance, it had hinted that style-wise, Duloc was pretty much the same as when it was during Shrek's first time there with Donkey.

They all sat on top of the hill that had gave them a clear view of the sunflower field, the castle in the distance, and the collections of cabbages on the farmland.

"Shrek, what's the whole idea behind this thing, then?" Fiona asked, showing apprehension at how viable Duloc can actually be, given that it's a city that used to be under the rule of Lord Farquaad.

"We'll head on in, find out who's the head of the place or whatever, king, anything, and we'll ask them to help us out" Shrek said, standing firm on that mindset.

Fergus and Farkle, finally awake, looked over to the brown wooden windmill building just a couple of minutes away. The brothers slowly began walking their way over there. Fiona turned around to see the two of them instantly making a run for the building, laughing out loud, after they had seen their mum notice them. She got up off the ground and went ahead to stand by her two orge sons. She wanted to ensure that whilst they're playing, they're safe.

Donkey took Fiona's place eventually, as Shrek stared out at the castle in the distance.

"I've gotta give you props, Shrek, I know how hard it must be..." he said, sitting directly in Fiona's spot.

Shrek looked at Donkey with a slight straight face.

"Thanks.." he said.

"So uh...whatchu gonna do when we get there?"

"Hope for the best...I just can't believe what's happening at the minute. Am I really that bad?"

"Oh Shrek, don't be so hard on yourself...things happen beyond your control, like the day I became your best friend?"

Shrek remained vacant, in that he remained looking at the sunflower field. He was scared that if Duloc isn't willing to help out, then he'll literally have to face off against Charming himself, where his death would be likely to occur at that point. It made him relieved though that they've got this close to the place, but now, the prospect of whoever's in power refusing to help was running rampant.

"I can't face it, Donkey...I-...that little girl saw me for who I am, didn't she? just a grumpy, miserable, ugly orge..."

"Shrek...look at it this way, you've risked your life, you've walked all this way to get to Duloc, and you're willing to uh...how can I put this, walk into the darkness in terms of not knowing if you'll, or we'll, should I say, get the help we need. All of that combined? darn Shrek, you're more than a good dad for all yo kids; you're uh...uh...a miracle.."

Shrek genuinely looked lightened up at that. He was being aggressive and angry towards Felicia before she was lured away by Rumpelstiltskin, only because he wanted to protect her and Fergus and Farkle, but at the same time, his fatherly instincts have prompt him into risking his life by walking through the land where the knights of Charming patrol, capturing any 'trespassers', and nearly encountering them when Twart had sacrificed himself to them to trick them off. Why all of that? so he can save Felicia. That's a heck of a commitment for a father to his daughter; not only did it show the love he has for his kids, it also shows that he's the contrast of a bad father: a good, caring, and loving father to his kids.

"Thank you, Donkey..."

"I agree, amigo, it's about time that you had a cheering up, we'll save her sooner than later.." Puss said, also sitting down.

"Puss you're not the best friend, you got that?"

As Donkey and Puss were once again about to argue about who's the best friend and who's not, Shrek cut into it.

"Listen, I appreciate you both, equally, but I just need some time to think about this with a clear head...there's no need to argue, surely?"

Puss and Donkey both nodded, even though they both exchanged brief frowns upon each other. Donkey's kids were playing together up in the air in circles. Whilst Shrek and the lot watched the castle of Duloc, the dronkeys were all playful and as if there's nothing happening.

Fiona stood besides Fergus and Farkle as they looked up to the gigantic windmill building. It was clearly aged, as the wood looked all old, wrinkly and scratchy. The actual wooden windmill at the front of the building hadn't spun in ages. It's that old, the windmill couldn't spin any longer in even the biggest amount of wind. It was simply too weak in it's material to function as intended when it was initially built. The humans who had once occupied this area were clearly long gone, evident by the rotten cabbages near the sunflower field. How they abandoned it, and why they abandoned it, was a mystery that neither Shrek, Donkey, or the rest didn't intend on covering, because it actually made for a decent area to be situated at for a certain amount of time, and there're more important matters going on at the moment.

Fergus and Farkle began pushing against the door, which had prompt Fiona to walk over towards them. Before she could ensure that they weren't going to fall, the door of this abandoned building had surprisingly been unlocked this entire time, as it emitted a gigantic squeak from it's rusty handles as it opened up slowly. Instantly, the inside contained a flour-creating machine, and a ladder that had ascended through to the top floors. These ladders looked incredibly weak, though, to the point that even if a feather was to flow into the air and onto them, it'd collapse. Fergus and Farkle were excited; they began running circles all around the flour-creator.

"Woah woah, slow down, we should probably get out of here..."

The smell of wood surrounded the vicinity of the inside, but there was also a scent of wheat, oddly enough. Suddenly, though, Fergus and Farkle stopped at the other side of the wheat creator, to notice two long, wooden-like poles; they must have came from the contraption itself from all those years ago. Fiona reached down towards them and picked them up; perhaps they could be used as viable weapons against Charming, should he somehow find them.

"No, you cannot touch these, they're far too dangerous, Fergus and Farkle..." Fiona said, holding the wooden poles in her big green orge hands, as Fergus and Farkle sighed.

Fiona figured that it was actually quite safe for them to remain in here, whilst she takes the wooden poles over to Shrek and the rest.

"Stay in here, Fergus, and especially you, Farkle..." she said, pointing at them with a smile.

They nodded at their mum, before studying the entirety of the inside of the windmill building.

The second Fiona exited the building, she was blinded by the colouration of the outside, as it felt like she had been inside the windmill building forever. She carried the wooden poles with ease, because as an orge, her strength is undeniably strong. She walked over towards the dronkeys, Shrek, Donkey and Puss, as they all sat on the hill, just staring out at the morning sky in which the Duloc castle remained there, offering a glimpse of hope in the form of reminding them of the fact that they're at the destination that could potentially spell 'saving the life of Felicia'.

"Hunny?" she said, prompting Shrek to instantly lock his eyes onto the wooden poles that she had on her shoulder, "found these in there, and hey, uh, should we come within an encounter, we've got these?"

"Fiona, I can take one or two with my hands..." Shrek insisted.

"Stop being in denial Shrek, and take this one here..." she dropped a pole from her shoulder and kicked it over to Shrek's sat-down body.

"Ohh Princess, can I have one of those too? wait...I don't have any HANDS!"

"Argh, look, Donkey, if you want me to feel better, could you possibly tone it down...just slightly?" Shrek asked, making an expression of the extent he wants Donkey to quieten down.

"Sorry, it's just that we Donkeys wish we had the same features some of ya'll had at times, it's hard to contain, you know?"

Shrek sighed. Although he's claimed that he can take on one or two of Charming's knights, he took the wooden pole anyways. He stood up, after having a deep moment just now as he was reflecting on everything that's occurred. The thought of Felicia still being kept within Charming's own hands had prompt the orge to get up from his rest.

"Uh, Fiona, where's Fergus and Farkle?" Shrek asked.

"They're in here, I'll go and grab them now, and uh, I assume we're heading straight through that field?" Fiona asked.

"Time is of the essence, Fiona. Go and get them and we'll move ahead towards what we're trying to do here..." Shrek said, which had prompt Fiona into going back to the wooden windmill building to get Fergus and Farkle.

She walked back across the green grass as the sky began clearing up, and once she entered the wooden building, there was a vacancy before her eyes. Fiona began panicking as her orge heart began pumping rapidly, before she suddenly heard a bunch of running footsteps on the second floor.

"O-Oh no...Fergus, and Farkle? I'm coming up there!" Fiona yelled, realising that they had somehow climbed up that weak and fragile ladder.

Possibly, the ladder was able to cope with the small weight of Fergus and Farkle, which had made Fiona confident that she too could climb up it. Fergus and Farkle continued laughing as they chased each other, but as Fiona climbed up the ladder, a sound of a bit of wood snapping was heard, and her mind was suddenly blinded by the fact that the ladder was entirely loosing it's initial balance. She naturally leaped off of the wooden ladder as it snapped entirely into pieces from it's initial position. She pushed it off to the side to stop it from landing on her head, but this has created, yet again, another problem; Fergus and Farkle are now stuck on the second floor, and with that ladder now broke, Fiona has to force her sons to jump down into her arms from the top.

"Fiona, what-" Shrek was instantly shut off from the instant realisation that Fergus and Farkle were stuck on the second floor, and this was evident to him by the fallen ladder.

"H-How did they get up there?"

"T-They must have climbed up, Shrek, but honestly, I tried just now, and it collapsed down? what're we going to do?" she asked, sounding panicked.

"Look, if we waste anymore time, we're gradually lowering the chance of Felicia coming back into our arms. FERGUS, FARKLE?!" Shrek yelled, which caused the footsteps to come to a halt.

"JUMP DOWN THROUGH THE HOLE, RIGHT NOW!"

Fergus and Farkle began mumbling with each other; the fact is, they're reluctant in doing it, despite Fiona easily holding the capability to catch them. As the outside was occupied by Puss, Donkey and the dronkeys, a brief thunderous sound could be heard in the far distance; it hit on Shrek like a bomb.

"N-No...n-no...it can't be? th-they've found us already?!" Shrek said, running to stand right above the hole in which that ladder used to be hung at.

Prince Charming's knights had split up; ten in most groups, but some were in uneven numbers, taking different directions, but the squad that had took to the forwards direction were the ones that Shrek and his family could hear with their horses, and coincidentally, that was the one that Charming's carriage was following. They began sensing that maybe, just maybe, something will come out of the area they're approaching; a small, brown little building in the distance made them think this.

"EMBARKING UPON A POTENTIAL COLLISION!" One of the knights on a running horse yelled, which was heard easily through the ears of a tied up Rumpelstiltskin and Felicia in the carriage with Charming; he yelled this because of the building approaching.

Charming looked down at both Felicia and Rumpelstiltskin; he once again took up his sword, and briefly patted the upper section of the steel blade, once again hinting at what's coming. He could feel it; it'll be the first time in MONTHS that he'll see Shrek, should he actually be able to entirely locate them.

"SHREK, JUMPING UP ISN'T-"

"I uh, I hate to be the bearer of bad news here, BUT UHM...CAN YOU GUYS HEAR THAT?!"

"Oh no, OF COURSE NOT, DONKEY, AS IF I DON'T HAVE A BLOODY PAIR OF EARS! FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. FERGUS, FARKLE, JUMP!" Shrek yelled, once again sounding entirely angered, but it was from his panic; if Charming's forces corner them off in here, they'll essentially be finished, but another thing to consider is that the thought alone of Charming being nearby had, in a way, intimidated Shrek because he's not only not seen Charming in absolutely ages, but he'll have Felicia with him (which is what Shrek thinks), only adding to the fear and the apprehension.

Fergus and Farkle needed to jump at this point. The speed in which Charming's carriage and his knights were going had ultimately caused him to arrive at the location where Shrek and his family are at at a much quicker time than Shrek and the lot initially did.


	20. Life saving return

**CHAPTER 20: Life saving return**

The group pushed into the building as Fergus and Farkle remained on the second floor, reluctant to jump through the ladder hole. As Charming's forces were doing circles in the distance, like a pack of wolves smelling out their prey, there was anxiety in the air between Shrek and Fiona. Twart and Blay were long gone, meaning that the orges and the others were all by themselves this time around. They were contemplating as to which one should be the one to catch Fergus and Farkle.

"Wait...maybe I should do it?" Shrek said, feeling like he'll make it a quicker process.

Donkey was trembling as he stood in the doorway. Not being able to see beyond the walls of this building as to where the knights were was scary; they could be ANYWHERE in ANY given distance. He ensured that his dronkey kids were inside with him.

"Maybe you should, then..." Fiona said, stepping back to allow Shrek to stand directly below the ladder hole.

The ladder itself is far too fragile and as a result, risky for Shrek to use; it has a high chance of breaking apart should it be used. As a result, he left it on the ground floor of the building, just laying there as it descended into a useless piece of wooden material from this point. Shrek could see the glaring shiny green heads of his two orge sons, just looking down from the hole as they were trembling. As Shrek started jumping up and down in an attempt to possibly catch onto the hole that the ladder was initially attached to, Fiona noticed that he was clearly losing his stamina at a much quicker pace than usual.

"Oh Shrek, you've been putting more on, haven't you?" she laughed, breaking away from the worried persona briefly.

"Well Fiona, I'd be in shape if I could actually run around a bit more?" Shrek replied, raising his green orge palms up into the air as he did so.

The pressure of beating the clock was starting to get into the mindsets of both Fiona and Shrek. They needed to get Fergus and Farkle down before it's too late. Fergus was the first one to sit right at the edge of the hole, where his legs were dangling from from the top, and Shrek began reaching his arms up in a bid to grab his son carefully. Suddenly, though, Fergus had slipped off of the edge and through the hole, albeit coming within a scary distance of nearly slamming his orge head off of the sides, right into Shrek's hands. He quickly but carefully handed Fergus over to Fiona, before placing his focus onto Farkle, who was much much more reluctant in making the jump.

"Imagine what Twart and Blay would do?" Donkey asked.

"THEY AREN'T HERE, DONKEY..." Shrek replied, out of the stress going through him.

"COME ON, FARKLE, JUMP DOWN, I'LL CATCH YOU..." Shrek yelled, with Farkle sounding whimpy and scared.

Suddenly, though, the tiny orge closed his eyes before jumping directly through the hole. Once again, he managed to go through it with ease, but unlike Fergus, Farkle didn't come close to slamming his head off of the edges of the hole. Shrek caught him, in which the orge felt relieved upon the realisation that his two kids are finally safe. He had told them never to do anything like what they just did again, especially given the circumstances that everybody in the group is in.

"Alright, we've got them, let's get out of here quickly!" Donkey said, which was surprisingly followed instantly by Shrek and Fiona.

They ran to the outside, exposure to the sky above and the Duloc castle in the distance, but Donkey, being in front of the 'line' if you will, had looked over towards the area near the behind vicinity of the wooden building, and instantly, he could sight about 12 or more knights just moving around in basically circles. This prompt him to alarmingly turn to Shrek and the rest as they ran to him.

"OH NO!" Donkey yelled, with Shrek and the rest acknowledging what he's seen.

But it looked like the knights were already a step ahead of them.

"QUICK, GET TO THE FIELD!" Shrek yelled, with his voice only causing the knights to sight them, and in turn, run over to them with their horses.

The sound of running hooves began trailing them in what sounded like a circled-vicinity, but nonetheless, they ran and sprinted as fast as they possibly could, as the knights were closing in and basically racing to get in front of the field before Shrek and the rest had a chance to enter it. It was too late. The horses were fortunately, for the knights, able to outrun Shrek's speed by quite a bit, and as a result, about five of them, instantly sliding out their gigantic, steel swords, acknowledging that Shrek is a big orge, had stopped in front of the sunflower field, just near the cabbages. Fiona held onto Fergus and Farkle tightly as the two orge kids covered their heads into their mum's shoulders. They were petrified. Donkey and Puss backed up, as Donkey's ears were down.

The knights departed off of their horses, gigantic swords in hand in order to keep Shrek and his wife in order, as another bunch of knights had surrounded them behind; they were cornered off, literally. Donkey, though, feeling like he should at least try and solidify his place as Shrek's true best friend, suddenly barged out from behind Shrek as he seemed to take on a more firm stance than usual.

"WATCH MAH BABIES, SHREK!" Donkey yelled, with his dronkeys looking as petrified as Fergus and Farkle at the sight of their dad running into his death, basically.

"N-NO, DO-" Shrek was caught off guard by one of the knights charging over to Donkey to tackle him down, and instantly, the knight kept both his elbows down onto Donkey.

"D-DONKEY!" Shrek yelled, which had prompt him to pull out that wooden pole that Fiona had found inside the building.

The dronkeys were emitting whines of cries. They didn't want to fly, because they acknowledged that these knights are dangerous, and their dad is literally being taken hostage by one of them.

"Put that down, orge..." the middle knight said, as he and his companions held out long, shiny and sharp swords to the direction of the orge, "someone could get hurt..."

"DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME, KIDS! I'M OKAY!" Donkey struggled, with the knight getting a firm grip of Donkey, which had caused Donkey to stop struggling rapidly to get out.

"Leave now while you can...and then your daughter will go with you..." the knight added.

"H-Hold on Shrek, maybe we should LISTEN to him?!" Fiona said, thinking that it's for the better if they leave now, in exchange for Felicia.

Shrek still held the wooden pole straight out to the knight, which he was reluctant in using due to the fact that the knights behind him and his family and the ones in front could easily inflict some serious pain either way, and potentially, a slaughtering with those bigger-than-usual swords.

"Hahaha, smart orge..." the knight said, with a chuckling raised-up eyebrow expression.

"NO, DON'T BUY IT, SHREK! JUST-" Donkey was cut off from the knight forcefully and aggressively keeping him down on the ground by pushing his elbows down into his sides to keep him from getting up.

Shrek was trembling significantly.

"Oh come on, this doesn't have to happen...but all my king wants is for you to take your family and GO..."

Prince Charming, in the carriage, still, was approaching the direction of the wooden building where, much to him imminently knowing, Shrek and his family are being held to surrender. Charming once again looked down at a disturbed Rumpelstiltskin next to a trembling Felicia, both of which had their hands tied up against the walls of the carriage. As Charming looked out of the window of the carriage, he could suddenly notice a thick shadow, in a giants form, moving over the ground nearby, and it moved past the rapidly moving carriage of his with speed. He instantly knew who this was, and once he saw the direction that it was flying in, he wanted to turn away, because he knows that it's got a friendship with Shrek in particular.

"No, NO, TURN AWAY! TURN AWAY!" Charming yelled, to the knight controlling the horses, who instantly obeyed.

Felicia and Rumpel instantly perked their faces up to the direction of the window next to Charming's head, who felt like he wanted to tease Felicia in particular about moving further away from Shrek. He knows that Shrek is nearby, based on what he's just seen, but he's turning away now because, from past experience, that particular thing had culminated his defeat back at Far-Far-away, and if he's in it's vicinity with Felicia and Rumpel in his grasp, they'll both most likely be saved; the exact opposite of what he wants. Whilst his 40+ knights are still scattering the land, one of his group of knights have found Shrek and his family, and they've been put in a vulnerable position; Charming intends on going back to that area when he feels it's safer to do so without the risk of Felicia being saved.

He smirked at her in particular, fully intent on not letting her go back to Shrek.

"LISTEN SHREK, JUST BECAUSE WE'VE GOT THESE THINGS HERE, IT DOESN'T MAKE US INVINCIBLE...JUST...DROP THEM AND THINK ABOUT THE SMARTER THING!" Fiona yelled, as Shrek was under immense pressure.

"NO, SHREK, FELICIA NEEDS YOU..." Donkey yelled, with the knight above him finally sliding out his sword to pluck it against his throat. "GET THEM WHILST YOU'VE STILL GOT A CHANCEE!"

It didn't seem to phase the knights that a Donkey could talk, or that a cat is walking in boots.

"What's it gonna be, tough orge? I won't wait forever...we won't...and neither will my King?" the knight said, referring to Prince Charming.

Shrek was angrily gritting his teeth at the knight as he kept the wooden pole pointed directly at him, getting all sweaty as it dawned on him that he might very well be forced to be taken down. Suddenly though, the entire vicinity of this place began shaking, like an earthquake. Whilst Shrek's apprehension of seeing Charming for the first time in ages, potentially with Felicia, the rest of his family were looking up to the sky as the shaking continued.

"S-SHREK!" Fiona yelled, realising what's about to come.

Shrek looked all around, as he could sense the source of the earthquake like shaking. The knights all began looking at each other, concerned, and the knight in front of Shrek looked back at the group as Shrek had an even better idea in mind in the midst of being close to being captured.

"FALL DOWN WITH ME!" Shrek yelled, prompting everyone to fall down to the ground, catching the knights by surprise as they stood there, getting worried by the shaking.

Suddenly, it sounded like a volcano was interrupting amongst the gigantic shaking. Whilst Shrek and his group had fell down, covering themselves, the knights all looked up in shock; specifically, the knight holding Donkey down to the ground with a sword as Dragon suddenly made her gigantic body visible within a close proximity.

"RETREAT! RETREAT!" The front knight yelled, as a shower of flames were suddenly being pummeled upon their direction.

The wooden building was caught on fire, not intentionally, but Dragon knew that these knights were intentionally trying to cause him just from seeing her husband being sworded down to the ground. They all retreated, getting through the flames in thanks to their armour, as she managed to leave Shrek and the rest without any sort of fire. Suddenly, the entire atmosphere felt hot, as if the sun was a walking distance away. The knights all whined, like little children, as they retreated in their groups back from the flames to return to Charming. Shrek, Fiona, and the lot had all carefully looked back up to notice that all the flames were suddenly disappearing, due to the grass being extremely thin. The knight who was holding Donkey down had retreated along with his companions, prompting him to instantly run over to his wife the second she landed.

The group stood up, slowly but carefully, as it dawned on them that Dragon didn't come alone; absolutely not. Pinocchio and the Three Little Pigs had all joined her; they realised that Shrek and Donkey had basically vanished, which had prompt her into searching for them.

"HEY BABY!" Donkey yelled, with Dragon lowering her large pink head towards him to briefly kiss him.

"Y-You you did get the kids, right?" Shrek said, as he was still cautious from all the flames just now.

"They're right here, hunny, don't worry.."

"SO UH, ARE YOU GUYS GONNA COME ALONG, OR NOT?!" Pinocchio yelled, from the top of Dragon.

"I-I can't believe we were just nearly burnt..." Shrek said, realising that Fergus or Farkle could have been burnt just now.

"Shrek, we've just gotta go on Dragon now, our intention to save our own daughter has just been made ten times easier...just...appreciate it, alright? we would of been toast if it wasn't for her..."

All the dronkeys had flew around their mother, feeling relieved and calmed, especially after Charming's knights had nearly captured them just now. As the group began walking towards Dragon, who smiled at them all, Shrek turned back around to stare at the burning building. He...he just wanted his daughter back. God knows, in his mind, the state that she's in, being in the grasp of Prince Charming and ALSO Rumpelstiltskin. They began walking back towards Dragon as the flames had helped increase the hotness of the air by a ton, which made it feel like a summer day. Nonetheless, they were just saved, and now, they're fully on their way to Duloc.

About ten minutes later, Charming, being surrounded by Felicia and Rumpelstiltskin on his left and right, holding his sword in his two hands, was staring at the windmill building as it was burnt to a crisp; it was just as he suspected, it was that Dragon. He arrived here with the certainty that that Dragon wouldn't be here, in which she no longer was. One of the knights in front of Charming, as Rumpel and Felicia were also studying the windmill building, began patting himself as he was boiling in his armour from all of the heat.

"Oh well...try next time..." the knight said, prompting Charming to give off a scary stare at the knight, in which he was very subtly and quietly growling.

"I'll uh...I'll go and check the carriage..." the knight said, noticing Charming was angry.

That was funny for Rumpelstiltskin and Felicia, who were smiling at the fact that the knight had clearly backed off the second Charming gave off a threatening stare. They didn't know why it was funny, but it at least helped their moods brighten up in the midst of being under Charming's capture.

"Your majesty..." another group of knights said, from behind, prompting Felicia, Charming and Rumpel to turn around.

"Here...we've found some more potential enemies...they were rallying Shrek and the guys you wanted before..." they said, throwing both Twart and Blay into the open.

"Aha...nice of you to drop in..." Charming said, walking over towards them as Rumpel and Felicia remained by his side; the fear of what he'd do to either of them from a misstep caused them to remain firmly by his side, "you were so helpful to my knights last night, hey? well guess what, you can be useful to me now..."

"Oh, we've found you..." Blay said.

"Oh listen, don't waste my time with admiration..." Charming said.

"Uh, excuse me? I wasn't referring to YOU.." Blay added, blatantly, turning to look at Felicia, prompting Charming to look at her too with a raised-up eyebrow.

He suddenly walked directly to the front of both Twart and Blay whilst staring at Felicia. He swung his sword up, and pointed it like a staff, with the blade in Twart and Blay's direction. They backed up ever so slightly as Charming glared back in their direction.

"Where are the orges heading?" he asked, keeping the sword still.

There wasn't a response from either of them, with Rumpelstiltskin's heart suddenly beating faster upon the realisation that he's sensing that Charming's about to potentially kill them for not providing an answer. His senses were true. Charming suddenly raised the sword up into the air, prompting Rumpelstiltskin to make something up to save their lives.

"W-WAIT...STOP..." the little dwarf said, causing Charming to move his sword down from the air, "Shrek uh...they said something about an army or something, and how they're gonna uh...go to Duloc to uhm..." he was making this entirely up, "a-attack you, which is why they're going there?"

"A-An army?" Charming asked, nodding back at Twart and Blay, signalling for Rumpelstiltskin to move back to the side.

Twart and Blay raised their shoulders up at Rumpelstiltskin, with faces that were saying 'you've just made it even worse'.

Rumpelstiltskin, trying to save their lives, may have accidentally worsened the whole situation by lying to Charming about there being an 'army' at Duloc to 'attack' him.

"Thank you, Rumpel...you know what? I'm happy that these two things here got to see some genuineness...before they DIE..." he clicked his fingers.

All the knights dragged Twart and Blay away, as Charming called for their death. Rumpelstiltskin charged up directly to the side of Charming to get him to stop.

"N-NOOO!" he yelled, with Charming rapidly walking over to Rumpel.

Charming stared over him, before he suddenly sent the back of his hand flying like an arrow from a crossbow in the air to collide harshly against the cheek of Rumpel, emitting a gigantic, echoing clap-like sound the slap was that hard.

"OHH!" Rumpel yelled, as Charming's hand collided harshly with the slap.

Rumpelstiltskin looked down at the ground, as he held his cheek in absolute pain as the colour of red began soaring on his face. Charming ducked down to him, as if he didn't even do anything, with a hand on the dwarf's shoulder, prompting Rumpelstiltskin, with teary eyes as he was crying from it, to look back up.

"Think about your alignments, Rumpel...you're either on mine..." he paused to place his hand onto Rumpel's chin, to force him to look at the direction that Twart and Blay had been dragged in, "or theirs..." after a few seconds, Charming stood back up, letting go of Rumpel's skin as his eyes were shiny as he was crying from the pain.

Felicia was even more scared, and just seeing someone being assaulted like that had caused her to feel funny; seeing people deliberately hurt made her feel weak and vulnerable.

"Alright, GUARD...it looks like we need to gather up some more followers...we'll be heading down the route of an entirely new invasion, I imagine..." Charming said, with a huge smirk on his face.


	21. Drastic difference

**CHAPTER 21: Drastic difference**

When Dragon landed in front of Duloc, Shrek and the rest on her back slowly slid off of her gigantic wings to stumble across a Duloc that, frankly, didn't resemble what Shrek had seen when he initially got here years ago to talk to Farquaad. Gone was the old entrance that he and Donkey entered through, and in it's place was an open path, entirely free of any sort of security, and the place where the horses, carriages and the banners were had been replaced by a bunch of new houses, essentially stretching Duloc's vicinity outwards. It was weird to Shrek and Donkey particularly. There appeared to be nothing that was referring to Farquaad, either, and it felt much more contemporary than what it was.

"Thanks, baby, you ought to stay here, okay?" Donkey said to Dragon, in which she smiled before kissing Donkey again.

"I-I don't remember Duloc being like this?" Shrek said, scratching the side of his green chin.

"It's fine, hunny, let's just go on in, we'll track down whoever's in power, and hopefully we can get Felicia back today..."

"It's just that close encounter just now has put me on edge, Fiona..."

Pinocchio, the Three Little Pigs, Donkey and Puss had all followed Fiona and Shrek as they were getting strange expressions from the people of Duloc. The dronkeys remained with their mother. Although he went about an attitude where he'd ignore the stares, it eventually became awkward once they got into the main section of Duloc itself. Because those gates were removed ages ago, Donkey didn't have to struggle with getting through them like he did when he and Shrek first came here. The people, although they looked puzzled and confused at what they were seeing, especially a talking donkey, cat, and walking pigs alongside a wooden boy, were much more laid back than Shrek had remembered. He remembered when that person wearing the Farquaad costume with the gigantic overhead mascot had knocked himself out simply from running away from Shrek, and that was how he had come to realise that nobody here was that scared anymore.

Apart from the front, Duloc pretty much remained the same in terms of the buildings, but albeit that it was a very active day for the citizens at the minute. There was one major difference, though; all of the F'S were gone. The ones that were on the banners, and the ones that were pretty much everywhere on the buildings, when they wanted to staple it into everyone that Farquaad was the leader at the time. There was also no more Farquaad toys or plastic dolls of him being sold in ANY of the shops. Instead, Duloc seemed to be settled on a contemporary status, but this sudden transformation of the place gave Shrek some curiosity. It was almost as if it was an entirely new place, intent on abandoning it's past. Then, the group finally noticed one banner in particular as the place was packed with citizens. It was situated on a big flag pole, where it had a border of red around the sides with a white background. In the middle, there was a medium-sized red circle as it had the initials in the middle of it, in white: PND.

Another term for Duloc nowadays is indeed PND, which stands for 'People's Nation of Duloc'. After Farquaad was eaten, it was decided by the main governing powers at the time that it was possibly time for Duloc to undergo a 'drastic direction' in comparison to what it was under Farquaad. They did this because, secretly, they felt that having a dictatorship was a limiting form of a governing tactic, where Duloc wouldn't be able to prosper properly. About ten days after Dragon had swallowed Farquaad whole, the lasting governing powers had met up, and they spent days and days and eventually, months of negotiations to bring about a new system that would not only be different from a dictatorship, but one that would also embrace it's people and allow them to have a true say in who should lead Duloc.

This is ultimately what they agreed on: now that there's no longer a royalty, it was agreed that the people of Duloc would elect what is now a 'President of Duloc' to exercise the newly introduced democratic system, and it was also agreed that a new Duloc presidential election was held every five years. As a result, Duloc has since adapted smoothly to it's new foundation, becoming a much more civil, contemporary and inventive nation. It killed off any reference to Farquaad, and anyone who'd bring him or his time in power as a dictator up would either be fined shillings or sentenced to a minimal amount of time in civil service. Thus, Duloc was then formally established as the 'People's Nation of Duloc' and it had undertook a democratic system.

As for the actual President of Duloc, he or she form their own governing 'cabinet' if you will, and should there be an 'incident' to the President that spells out the end of his or her life, the second most powerful person in his or her cabinet will take over the presidential role. Obviously, this is a very contemporary sounding system, but it's one that Duloc has needed to get away from the previous dictatorship of Farquaad, and plus, the people now have their own say on who they want as President once every five years. Duloc had to fly through months and months of disagreements through negotiations to finally get to this system, and to say that the citizens admire their new system would be an understatement. For the first time in their lives, Duloc didn't feel like a playground for Farquaad, and instead, like an actual, civil and viable nation as it's now known as.

Shrek took the same route through Duloc to get to where the 'stadium' was, the place where he initially met Farquaad. The group began walking past the tall blue and white houses, in which all the 'F'S were long removed from the places of them where Shrek had expected to see them. This new, democratic Duloc was clearly serious about eradicating it's history of being under a dictator. They began walking past a collection of patches of trees, bordered by white and blue materials. Shrek was going under the assumption that whoever's in power of Duloc will be in the same area where he met Farquaad. There was an emergence of the citizens from behind, as they were following what looked like intriguing figures (which were obviously Shrek and the group) to their eyes.

They noticed that there was a bigger collection of citizens ahead through this tunnel leading into the stadium, but there was again, a drastic difference from when he was first here. There was a gigantic perimeter of fences surrounding the area of the entrance through this tunnel to the stadium, with the fences placed in a rectangle shape from the gigantic castle walls. Clearly, this is where the President makes his announcements whilst the citizens watch him and observe him.

"Why're they all following us?" Donkey asked, looking at the Duloc citizens behind.

"Maybe they wanna freshen you up, you need one?" Puss said, with Donkey simply grunting and frowning at that.

They finally got through, where upon doing so, all of the citizens initially watching the area beyond the fenced perimeter had turned to stare at Shrek and the group. Fiona, holding Fergus and Farkle, awkwardly smiled and laughed at the citizens as they glared at the orges and the others. Eventually, because the citizens were naturally backing away from Shrek's body as he walked forwards, he got to the direct front of the perimeter, where beyond the fence rested a bunch of Duloc knights, alongside one high-ranking looking knight who appeared to be standing in formation against the fence. He broke his formation the second he noticed Pinocchio, Shrek, Donkey, Puss, and Fiona with Fergus and Farkle. He raised his chin up towards them with a straight face, as Shrek placed his orge hands onto the top of the fence.

There was a silence amongst the Duloc citizens, due to the surreal sight that they were seeing at the minute.

"We have come to see whoever's in charge, nowadays?"

The knight in formation raised his chin up further, as the Duloc citizens gathered up behind Shrek and the group out of the surreal sighting they were looking at. The high-ranking Duloc knight slowly turned his body around to face the far wall, way beyond where this fence cuts off, but then as Shrek followed where the Duloc knight was looking, he noticed a distinguishable door, and then suddenly, the Duloc knight raised his hand up from the side and let his five fingers stay in the air. This was his way of telling Shrek and Fiona, without breaking his formation, that they'd have to wait at least five minutes before the President actually comes out here. It was a coincidence, because today was the day that the President himself was going to announce a bunch of new reviews and policies that he's looking to implement.

"HAHA! LOOK MUM! THERE'S A WALKING WOODEN PUPPET! CAN I KEEP HIM, PLEASE?!" A tiny youth of Duloc asked, prompting Pinocchio to turn around to tell him directly about the entire deal.

"I'm not up for sale! I'm just...I'm a regular boy..." the second he said that, his nose took a charge forwards as it grew and grew and grew...he wasn't a regular boy, he wasn't even a boy; he was purely made of wood, end of, hence why his nose had grown big.

The Three Little Pigs remained close with each other, as they felt like they were going to get lost pretty quickly amongst this nation.

About five minutes later, precisely what that knight had gestured for, a group of Duloc knights, over 10+ of them at least, had emerged from the door at the far walls of the stadium. Shrek turned around to look at the crowd, and he noticed that they all suddenly went silent as their eyes were trailing the approaching group of knights; there was a figure in the middle of the group, clearly, and this was perhaps the person who runs Duloc now. Shrek slowly whispered to Fiona, in order to reassure her.

"I think this is him..or uh...her..." he said.

"Just keep yourself, hunny..." Fiona said.

"I will, Fiona, this is for Felicia..."

Everybody in the crowd backed up slightly, as the head knight marched with his arms swaying rapidly in the air with each step. He turned around precisely on the spot he stopped at, to look directly at the group of knights. Suddenly, a podium was pulled in by a running knight who lacked a helmet; this was clearly the President's announcement. After he ran back off from delivering the podium, the group of knights removed themselves from each other and they allowed a gap to emerge in the front of their formation; from there, Shrek and Fiona's personification of hope was sent right into their eyes.

Carrying a black folder-like object in his grip, emerging from the group of knights, as the two front ones had instantly marched by his sides as he approached the podium, President Baystood of Duloc had emerged, and his clothing spelt importance. He had a large, thick stripe in a diagonal direction across his back and front body, which was in the colours of the People's Nation of Duloc's flag, and the clothing beneath that was a large, red and golden suit, alongside regular black pants; he was a darker shade than the rest of the knights, and his hair was neatly coned entirely to the left. He had black-leather gloves on, which had helped everyone even further to distinguish him apart from the other members of his cabinet as the President, being the only one to have them.

As he walked slowly to the podium, Baystood pinpointed his eyes directly to the green creatures and the others, such as the walking cat and the female orge and the Donkey amongst his own citizens in the crowd, prompting him to smile at them out of the strangeness. The President stood at 6'1, which meant that he was quite a tall person. He walked in front of the podium, but he felt like he had to address Shrek and Fiona in the crowd first.

"Welcome, outsiders...it's a very flattering sight for me to behold, I do hope that whatever you're seeking from our dignified nation, you have a good time and you acknowledge that-"

"Hey, uh, sir?" Shrek said, interrupting the rather posh utterance of the President unintentionally; nobody has ever tried to have a full on conversation with the President before.

"We're here because we..." Shrek sighed an apprehension before continuing, "we just...we need your help..."

President Baystood raised his eyebrows as he rested the black folder onto the podium, before looking at Fiona as she was the next one to speak up.

"We've got quite a personal problem, uh...sir..." she said.

Shrek looked back up to the President, holding onto the fence as he was about to reveal what they needed help with.

"Our daughter's been captured by Prince Charming, sir..." he said.

President Baystood looked to his left and right, with his knights having no idea who Prince Charming was.

"Charming? elaborate, who is this Charming that you're speaking of?" he asked.

"He's...he's a deadly man who's caused me close-harm in the past, but now...he's got my daughter, and he's holding her hostage so I...I go into his trap...please, sir...he might kill her?"

"I'm sorry, but the President has no time for-" the left knight said, before Baystood gently interrupted.

"Peace for a moment, Corporal...I'm sure there's more to this than what you're saying?" Baystood said, looking at Shrek.

"I...I'm just a bad father, I...I let Rumpelstiltskin lure her away...and now...I might end up without a daughter...but this Charming person...I know him well, he nearly took over Far-Far-away and now he wants to get back at me and my family...and uh...my friends...he runs a deadly regime of knights who...according to a couple of old friends of mine, want to become the governing group of the nearby land...but he's a changed man clearly from the last time I had seen him..he's merciless...he...he..." Shrek said, pitiful as he looked down at the fence.

President Baystood nodded ever so slowly, closing his eyes whilst doing it, before Fergus looked up from her mother's shoulder to talk to this man.

"She our sister..." Fergus said, which made Baystood's heart break.

"I'm aware...little guy..." Baystood said, before looking back at a hopeful Shrek and Fiona, "but you need to acknowledge that I'm packed with my time...so if it comes down to it, you may be waiting for a while before I can fully help you out with your severe-sounding problem...we may have to allocate you some personal space..."

They all felt relieved, at long last, albeit the President has a busy schedule that'll prevent him from reacting to the threat that Prince Charming is giving to Shrek and his family. But when he's finally done, Baystood intends on talking to Shrek directly about it before sending his own knights. He was a President that believed in positiveness, peace, and any viable route to peace itself, and he simply couldn't make himself ignore the issue of this orge's daughter being in the hands of another person, with that person threatening to kill the daughter, despite the fact that they're orges. It made perfect sense that none of them knew who Prince Charming was, or the type of regime that he wants to build up, or the fact that he's also wanting to kill Shrek, because Charming's never ever been to Duloc before, nor has his knights, but perhaps they should realise quickly that Prince Charming at one point had an entire kingdom in a coup, so that should speak volumes about just how dangerous he can potentially be to Duloc too.

The road to getting Felicia back was fully underway. Shrek genuinely loved the new Duloc, in comparison to Farquaad's one in the past, too.


	22. Possibility concerns

**CHAPTER 22: Possibility concerns**

Shrek was standing right next to the door at the far wall of the open stadium, the place where he and Donkey, all those years ago, got into a brawl with Farquaad's knights, to the point that he had assigned them the task of rescuing Fiona from the castle. They no longer used the position Farquaad used to make his announcements, as Baystood in particular felt as if it promoted an outdated vibe. Instead, like he did when Shrek and his family first got here, he remained on the ground surface with a podium to announce his future plans to improve the lives of his citizens. Although this meant that the citizens themselves weren't able to pack into the stadium with bigger numbers, they seemed to approve of the new format regardless. There were again, no more 'F' banners situated around the stadium, further proving that Duloc was well beyond the Farquaad era.

Shrek and Fiona were anxiously waiting besides the door as the President was still inside, and from when they arrived here initially to meet him to now, about five hours had passed. The President was a truly busy figure, given that he's the most powerful man within Duloc. When he did have free time, he'd either rest early and wake up early the next morning, or he'd go out with his bodyguards to tour his nation, to talk with his citizens and specifically, the youths and the future of the place. Whenever he did that, the citizens had a shiny vibe in their bodies; to be spoken to by the President first was like a dream come true for them, they admired him that much. He'd only get an hour at most to do these tours, though.

"Fiona...this is getting beyond ridiculous, it's been over two hours, and our daughter's still out there?" Shrek said, starting to get impatient.

"Look, I know this is a time consuming thing, but the end result will be worth it, Shrek..." she said, with Fergus and Farkle still in her hands.

The rest, such as Donkey, Puss, Pinocchio and the others, had returned to the front of Duloc, as they believed that this was a personal moment for Shrek; they felt that it should be his family and his family only to be present when they're with the President of Duloc to hopefully negotiate a solution to the Prince Charming problem that their daughter, Felicia, is currently in the midst of.

"Time-consuming at this point is a babyish way of putting it, Fiona. We shouldn't have to wait over two hours?"

"Are you forgetting that this guy is the King-uh, I mean President of Duloc, Shrek? he's obviously got more important matters, but we're still here, it's better than being far away from here, isn't it?"

"But as each hour passes...Fiona...Felicia is ultimately still in Charming's hands...like I said, I could easily destroy him if it was just him and myself..."

"Sometimes, Shrek, things don't go the way you want them to, and that's the harsh reality. Look, when we get in there, we'll try our best, alright? let's just be thankful that we're here in the first place, alright?"

Shrek thought that that was a good point; yes, the President's a busy man, meaning that he has to prioritise his meetings and his general schedule above this, but if he had it his way, he'd be more than willing to put Shrek and Fiona's dangerous problem first, and like Fiona said, at least they're here in the first place rather than not being here at all.

As a couple of the citizens in the distance in the crowd area through the tunnel emerged to stare across at Shrek and Fiona, the wooden door in between them had suddenly opened, in which a knight had emerged from it.

"The President will see you imminently, come on in..." he said, leaving the door open for the orges to enter.

Shrek and Fiona wasted no time in going inside, and as they did, Shrek specifically wanted to know what keeps the President himself busy to this magnitude, to the point that he hasn't been available for over two hours. They began walking through what looked like a tunnel, with torches on the walls.

"What does he entail, like uh, what keeps him away for that long?" Fiona asked, as Fergus and Farkle looked amazed at the structure they were walking through at the moment, given how little space there was.

"Oh, well he's the President, isn't he? he's the leader of a nation. It's a compulsory thing for him to have meetings with his cabinet, where they discuss policies and what they could do to improve the state of the nation...upcoming ones, and then he has a ton of things to sign...then he's got paperwork, policies that he's looking to implement...like, that's just a few things he does in that space of time, he does much much more than what I'm telling you, trust me, haha..." the knight laughed, as they got to a gigantic collection of spiraling stone cold stairs.

They spent about four minutes climbing up the spiralling steps, indicating as to how gigantic the actual castle itself was. Eventually, they got to the final set of steps as Shrek and Fiona were exhausted, especially Fiona, with her having to carry Fergus and Farkle. They approached a guarded door which had two knights on either side of it, both holding up metal spears as they too had the gigantic bands in a diagonal direction on the back and front of their armour, in the colours of Duloc's flag. The knight in front of Shrek and Fiona stopped to talk to them.

"The President's permission has been granted for these orges here to see him, they're clear..." he said, with the knights nodding with approval.

They stomped their feet simultaneously before moving rapidly to the left and right respectively, clearing the path for Shrek, Fiona and the knight guiding them to walk through. The door was opened up, and instantly, President Baystood himself, alongside a couple of other knights, were situated in a gigantic hallway of a bunch of doors within the top floor of the castle.

"Ah, there you are. Pleasure to meet you both, again..." Baystood said, moving forwards to shake the hands of the orges, in which they did.

He guided them to one of the doors that led personally to his main working vicinity. When they got inside, they sat down, with Fiona and Shrek situated besides each other with Fergus and Farkle respectively on their knees, whilst the President was sat opposite, alongside a couple of knights guarding the door to the hallway itself.

"Okay...could you just run me down on what's going on with your daughter?" the President asked, with Shrek suddenly feeling intense in this atmosphere, being sat opposite of the most powerful man in Duloc, and the man who could potentially save Felicia.

"She's basically been captured by Prince Charming, uh, sir..." Shrek said, finding it unorthodox that he's calling a human 'sir', but this is the President of Duloc, after all.

"Okay, oh yes, that rings a bell from earlier. Just before I continue, I'd just like to apologise for the long wait, but given what I've been elected to do, it's a heavy thing, you know? there's essentially no room for breathing space, unless I can manage to squeeze in a break here and there..." he said.

"Don't worry about it, we're just appreciative of the fact that we're here in the first place, and of your generosity here..." Fiona said.

"Okay, I've actually been thinking about it simultaneously whilst I've been doing what I've had to do over the recent hours, and I'm a realist, so I'm not sure if it's the thing you're gonna wanna hear. I can't realistically send any sort of delegation to this Charming guy you're talking about...because for one, I've never heard about him before, nor have I seen him, and most importantly, if I was going to send a delegation, I'd have to be fully assured that this place of his exists...and unfortunately, I can't believe what you're saying is true or not unless I somehow am provided with physical evidence..."

Shrek's face instantly went from bright and hopeful to a frown of apprehension.

"S-So you won't help me with my daughter?" he asked, sounding pitiful, which was a rare occurrence for him.

"I just...I need to know firstly, and physically, what I'm dealing with here...so if you can give me some sort of evidence, and I have no doubt that your daughter is probably out there, I'm not denying that, then I will consider sending a delegation. You need to understand that being in my position, you have to ensure you're making the most efficient decisions when it comes to matters like these...and pretty much, that's where I'm coming from here..."

Shrek placed his big orge hands onto his eyes, and subsequently, his face. The fact that the President wants to help, yet he can't because he's never heard of Charming before, made Shrek conclude that last night was probably the last time he'll ever see his daughter again. Fiona comforted Shrek by placing her hand on his back, looking at him from the side. Baystood was starting to feel guilty at the sight, and it began giving him second thoughts; if the orge cries, then that's probably the confirmation he needs to help out. By crying, Shrek is essentially confirming that his daughter is in grave danger right in front of the President.

"C-Can't you help us, mister President? it's...it's very urgent, our two little boys here miss her..." Fiona said, before she noticed a tiny tear drop from amongst the hands of Shrek, which were still covering his face.

President Baystood was shocked to see the orge's eyes actually teary and shiny when Shrek took his hands off of his face. He stood up, looking at the President who was frankly, caught off guard from the orge genuinely crying. Shrek looked down at Fergus and Farkle and eventually, up at Fiona, as he felt like if the President wasn't going to help, then he'll have to risk his life by saving Felicia himself.

"Come on Fiona...we're leaving, I'll risk my life to save her...thank you for your time, mister President, but I can't accept having my daughter horrified within the grasp of Charming...I...come on, we're leaving..." he said, sighing heavily as his throat felt all wrinkly and tight from the sadness.

"Stop, for a second...Shrek..." the President said, standing up himself, "I've seen the others cry before, but never before, during my time as President anyways, have I stumbled across an orge like you crying...is this on behalf of your daughter's situation?" he asked, but since he's already confirmed he can't help, Shrek wanted to just go and rescue Felicia himself.

"Oh it's fine, trust me, sir, just...thank you for the time, and we'll be well on our wa-"

"I...I had no idea...I'm so sorry, orge...considerations clearly need to be made on my behalf. I need to kill off the next half hour anyways, so we can perhaps dive into bigger and crucial details about sending a delegation over to this Charming person whilst we take a peaceful stroll through the town?" he said.

"R-Really? you said you wouldn-"

"Listen, I'm not just a President, I'm a President of the people, orge or not. Get yourselves a few minutes with each other whilst I try and set aside some time for discussing a potential delegation with my fellow governing members, alright? your emotions right now are the only evidence I need to draw a line on my stance on this entire thing" Baystood added, walking towards one of the doors.

Shrek wiped his tears, as Fiona and Shrek's moods suddenly ascended greatly; President Baystood truly was the personification of hope, after all.

**PRINCE CHARMING'S NEWLY SET UP CAMP**

Felicia was tied up against a tree branch tightly alongside Rumpelstiltskin, as the scent of burning could be smelt in the air; Charming's followers had once again managed to get a smelting process in place, creating a stronger set of weapons whilst gathering up more followers. Charming had set up 'shop' near the windmill building, which has now collapsed from Dragon's fire before, because he was preparing to invade Duloc eventually, and by situating himself and his knights here, they'll get a head start. Felicia and Rumpelstiltskin also had a set of ropes tied up against their mouths, and what made this all the more horrifying was the fact that the knight that was taunting them and teasing them, he couldn't be uttered back at because both of their mouths were also covered. He circled the branch they were tied harshly to by a thick amount of ropes, just picking up some grass from the ground.

"Is our new powerman tired?!" he said acidly, "does he WANT SOMETHING TO EAT?!" he once again said, acidly, tossing the large collection of grass into Rumpelstiltskin's face.

"It's time to take forwards WITH YOUR NEW POWER!" he yelled, getting right into Rumpelstiltskin's face, seemingly leaving Felicia out of his taunting, despite terrifying her still, "isn't that what you wanted?!" he said, in a darker, whispering tone.

Neither Rumpel or Felicia could respond.

Prince Charming was sat inside the carriage he arrived here in, wanting to catch up with his mother.

"Hi mother...I hope I'm doing you proud...mercy's gone out of the window, who needs it when I've been this successful in my goal? and the best news? I've got Shrek right by his heart, yeaah, he'll come running back here eventually whilst I've got his daughter in my grasp...and then, I...uh, I mean WE, can finally avenge ourselves, and then I can avenge what he did to you...but have you seen what I've done? people can call me mentally unstable or disturbed, but this is precisely what I want to be portrayed as for when I finally become the governing leader of this land...sooner than later, we'd have ended Shrek, I'll be showcasing my firm, tough strength by killing the little dwarf who thought for a second I'd give him any sort of position of power, and together, we can gradually establish our dominance over this vicinity by ruling over it with a hard, golden crown...and nobody can stop us...this is the new me, and that'll never change...even when I accomplish my revenge on that disgusting orge and take my rightful place as the governing leader of the land...love you, mummy, your favourite and only son..." Charming said, holding up a tiny sticker of his mother, Fairy Godmother, to kiss it.

The truth is, even if it's the case that Charming is trying to impress his passed mother, he's still got a deadly thirst for power either way, and he was very vindictive towards Shrek.

**FIONA COMES BACK WITH FERGUS AND FARKLE**

Fiona had to take Fergus and Farkle back, whilst leaving Shrek and the President to go on their stroll amongst Duloc to formally set up a delegation to rescue Felicia. The President had a compulsory aspect in his position, which was that whenever he exits the governing castle and into the main town, he HAS to have a number of bodyguards with him, to keep him safe, and in this case, Shrek is technically going to be in the middle of that, since he's been granted permission to talk to Baystood himself. Fiona needed to take the kids back because they were hungry, and plus, they were bored with having to spend all that time waiting for Baystood to be free. She ended up back at the front of Duloc, where, as she walked past the citizens just now, they weren't nearly as puzzled out at her, but she still did get a few funny stares in her direction from those amongst the tall blue houses, and the shilling shops all over Duloc through the windows. With the President in town, all of the citizens will inevitably be surrounding him in their hundreds, desperate to talk to their leader, and that was also why Fiona returned to the group, but it was also why he had bodyguards.

"PRINCESS, HOW DID IT GO?!" Donkey asked, running from his dronkeys over to Fiona the second he saw her emerging from the front.

Dragon was nowhere to be seen; she had gone for a fly for the sake of a fly, whilst waiting herself.

"I'm not sure, honestly, Donkey. One moment, he said he couldn't help us, and the next, he-..." she looked up, horrified at the rapid emergence of a couple of knights on horses closing in on the vicinity of Duloc.

The group of Pinocchio, the Three Little pigs, Puss, and the dronkey's had all backed up the second these knights emerged, but as soon as they sighted Fiona, they bypassed the group to run on their horses right over to Fiona; they saw that she was an orge. Fiona began urgently panicking as her heart began pumping rapidly.

"Oh...please don't try to run..." one of the knights said, with the other instantly taking over as they got off their horses.

"We're tired...and we prefer to kill you quickly..."

Fiona was breathing out loud with an open mouth, before the group of Pinocchio and the rest had ran up to the knights, wanting to buy Fiona some time; they overheard their desire to 'kill Fiona quickly', instantly putting them into the mindset that they needed to save her. These were the same knights who had Shrek and the family cornered off from the sunflower field before. Pinocchio leapt up from behind to take ahold of one of the knights by staying on his back, whilst the other knight had suffered a three-on-one situation by the Three Little Pigs, and although they were easily taken down due to being caught by surprise, they quickly emerged back up, with the intent of punishing these fairy tale creatures specifically, before turning to their main target, Fiona.


	23. Close call

**CHAPTER 23: Close call**

President Baystood and Shrek were walking together through the town, past various Duloc shops that had rows of pink flowers in front of the windows, and the other buildings that had consisted of blue corners and white fronts. They were surrounded in a square by the protection team, a team that is well trained in things that allow them to practically be as flexible as a band; should anyone try and physically gain against the President, they'll tackle the citizen to the ground like it never even had a second to happen. Shrek was lucky, in this case, though, because he's talking with Baystood, which meant that he too is temporarily being provided with the bodyguard protection. Citizens all around couldn't help but trace the team and the President from behind, but they kept their distance nonetheless. You could hear the citizens yell out things such as 'Mister President?!' and 'Oh my god!'. It wasn't unusual for them to be excited or desperate to talk with Baystood, considering he's their leader of Duloc. But Baystood would sometimes tour through the town occasionally just to interact with his citizens, especially the youths, and it delighted him to see that they were enjoying their lives under his presidency. Today, though, he couldn't put time aside to interact with them.

"Too loud for you, or can you cope?" Baystood asked, as they walked along the path through the town whilst struggling to hear themselves over the yelling citizens.

"If I wanted to, I could make every single flower pot collapse from it's shelf in these shops here. I have a louder roar, Mister President, haha..." Shrek said, sounding cheered up as his comment generated a chuckle from Baystood.

The President's uniform, something Shrek had realised, had some sort of resemblance to the costume that Farquaad had worn, but this was clearly an unintentional thing, and when Shrek thought about it in a deeper depth, the flag nowadays for Duloc is red, with the borders and the shape in the middle, so the President's uniform being red made sense. It was better than it being blue, because it'd resemble the blue Farquaad flag that Duloc once had.

"Our past is heavily frowned upon, but I do want to make a quick reference to it for the sake of context, orge. You see, Duloc was never like this...and let me tell you, when you transform a nation from a dictatorship into a place where the people get a say generally, life suddenly becomes fairer, you know?"

"Farquaad?"

"Oh...you know about him?"

"Yeah, he did 'little' to accomplish what he wanted to do, hahahahah" Shrek laughed, raising his orge palms up at the word of 'little', with the joke going over the President's head.

"I brought him up because I felt that you should know that we were never like this...in reality, we've got a system in place where any mentioning, referencing or even sympathising of you know who can lead to a significant amount of shillings being fined, or you'll be placed into a civil service, you know, just to keep the past eradicated..."

"That's probably for the better..." Shrek agreed, agreeing to shut up about Farquaad.

Luckily, because the President is the most powerful figure in Duloc, he can get away with mentioning Farquaad as much as he wants, and, much like Shrek just now, so can anyone else as long as the President gives them permission. He's only done it with Shrek, though; it'd be crazy for Baystood to allow his citizens to promote what was a dictatorship where Duloc was being held back from what it could be.

" **MAKE WAY FOR THE PRESIDENT!** " a large, tall member of the bodyguard team yelled, turning to the crowd of citizens tracing their steps from behind; they were becoming cynical for the team, and as a result, they wanted the citizens to back off in case they'd try and put the President's life in danger.

The voice got into the alleyways across this part of the town, and the citizens instantly became quieter as if they were turned down like you could turn a radio down. There were still voices being spoken, but they were significantly silenced, and they created a gap between themselves and the bodyguards as they started walking again.

"Shrek...there's one powerful, glaring trait that rules our personalities, each person has their own individual one...it can define the right from the wrong, and it can especially create a path to our ambitions. You have one, as do I.."

"But I've barely just gotten here, though?" Shrek said.

"But you've still came here, with all of your family, alongside that, with one clear goal in mind..."

"Well, not all of them..."

"Shrek...I will honestly do what I can to help your daughter, but you need to consider what the end result may be...depending on the strength of this Charming guy, it'll make the path an even bigger obstacle, in that we're trying to clear whatever type of organisation he may be running. I thought I'd make that clear, with you, but to no concern, I hope? it'll be a matter for me to take on, and again, I'll try my best..."

They got to the front of Duloc, where the citizens had more or less cleared away from behind.

"I just-"

" **SHREK?!** " Fiona's voice echoed, sounding like it came from over the last segment of the wall before the opening, prompting Shrek to run over to the direction it came from.

He sensed that she was in danger, which had made his energy increase significantly.

"FIONA!" Shrek yelled, forcing himself past the bodyguards as the President looked on; now, he was about to get the true physical evidence as to the problem that's causing Felicia to remain imprisoned.

Suddenly, all of the knights from the corners of the Duloc wall charged to the entrance too, which gave the President even more concern. He was intent on helping out right now, as much as he could.

"SHREK?!" Fiona trembled, holding tightly onto Fergus and Farkle, as the rest of the group were also in the corner, trembling from just how dangerous the knights themselves were.

Whilst this female orge clearly isn't going to budge, they decided that they'd rather taunt her before going in for the kill. Puss backed down at the possibility of fighting back, and the attacks that the Three Little Pigs and Pinocchio briefly delivered to these knights were far from effective, and instead, it seems like it's only increased the anger and the rage of the knights themselves. Fiona couldn't risk trying to fight back whilst these knights have one of the longest swords she's ever seen before; they weren't like the knights back at Far-Far away in that regard.

"HAHAHAH, and don't think acting like your filthy rotten kids in your hands there will get you out of it, there's no mercy from KING CHARMING!-"

"GET BACK!" Shrek yelled, feeling all the more confident now that the President is literally a short distance away.

The two knights turned their focus directly to Shrek as the orge charged forwards. Quickly, Shrek picked up the large wooden pole that he and Fiona had found back at the windmill building to return to a stance he was at when he and his family were cornered off beyond the sunflower field. He once again pointed the wooden pole, trembling, right towards the knights; their swords kept him from moving forwards despite having the wooden pole and also the strength.

"OH, COME ON..." the second knight yelled, not taking Shrek seriously due to how he was the first time he did what he's doing now.

"WE'VE ALREADY BEEN THROUGH THIS BEFORE...WE BOTH KNOW YOU HAVEN'T GOT IT IN YOU!" he yelled, with the second knight slowly moving around Shrek to the point where he'll unavoidably be surrounded behind and in front.

The knights gritted their teeth in disgust at Shrek as he kept the wooden pole pointed at the one forcing his back to face the entrance of Duloc, but suddenly, the knight behind the orge was taken down from behind, like a piece of plastic, from one of the President's bodyguards. He whined, but the bodyguard that tackled him down kept him locked there. The knight in front of Shrek worryingly watched on, as Shrek looked at the commotion; a large group of Duloc citizens were filling the entrance to observe the commotion between Shrek and Charming's (arguably) most loyal knight. The bodyguards ran for the other knight, but Baystood had another idea in mind.

"NO, keep yourselves at bay, let the orge get his comeuppance..." the President said, with Shrek and the knight turning back to each other.

The knight acknowledged that he was inevitably done for, so why not just go for the straight kill on the main target that his king, dear leader, Charming, had set in the first place?

"You might think you'll survive...but you're going to die..." the knight ducked down ever so slightly, gritting his teeth as the edges of his lips were shaking in pure anger and range, " **LIKE AN ORGE!** " the knight sprung forwards with the sword, aiming it for Shrek's head as Fiona and the group yelled in the background out of the expected shock of seeing Shrek slayed, the knight got his sword THAT close.

Shrek naturally sent the wooden pole, like a hammer against glass, slamming into the knight's head harshly, knocking him out just as he was about to send his dangerously long sword into the head of the orge. Shrek fell down to the floor afterwards as the knight's knocked out body flopped to the ground chest-first within his armour, after the pressure of slamming the pole had given him. He looked up at his family, as Fiona rushed over to him as he masked a face of relieve, but shock at the brutality of the knight, where Fiona ducked down to hug her husband; Fergus and Farkle hugged their dad out of the pure love they have, even more so, since their dad had just barely survived being slaughtered. Donkey, Puss, the Three Little Pigs, Pinocchio and so on had all cheered for Shrek, as the President of Duloc watched on in the background, as his bodyguard still had that other knight down to the ground.

The Duloc citizens behind had cheered and clapped, praising Shrek for JUST surviving. But, now though, the President was more than keen on helping out Shrek, considering this Charming guy just now had violated the laws of Duloc by committing an attempted murder on the behalf of his knights; he wasn't having it.

"Guards, knights, let this cretin you've got down there go...he'll lead you to Felicia, who looks like those kids there..." Baystood pointed, aiming the finger for Fergus and Farkle. "Take them to your base or you'll undergo a criminal penalty where you'll never see the day of light again, suitable for people like you..." the President added, ducking down to the held down Charming knight. "Specifically, take them to your leader..."

The bodyguard let go of the struggling knight, as he held the sword to prevent the knight from grabbing it; out of his fight or flight senses, he sprung off into the distance as a bodyguard of the President's, and about five knights had began trailing him, with their armour emitting clanking noises by each step. The President looked at Shrek with a smile, winking at the orge as Fiona, Shrek himself and the group looked on at the President with faces of gratitude; Felicia, here comes your save.

**CHARMING'S CAMP IS STILL PREPARING THE PLANS**

The mood was depressing, but that's what an atmosphere surrounded by smelting smoke and fires of logs does. Charming's followers still consisted of the original knights, but they had recently scrambled around for those who lacked a house, that lived in the woods, to persuade them to join, and clearly, their numbers had increased significantly. There were more people slamming hammers against swords, with the smell of coal emitting a scent that could only be described as a signal of strong preparations. Charming, and his top knights, were near the carriage as he was being briefed on the plan of the invasion. Rumpelstiltskin and Felicia were still kept together, tied harshly against that tree branch. There was only one knight keeping guard of them, to prevent any sort of escape.

"Here you go, sir, we've finalised what we're calling project surprise..." A knight from a group of ten in front of Charming said, handing over a piece of paper with a wooden board behind it.

Prince Charming took the paper with a nod, as he began rubbing his fingers against his visible beard whilst looking at the formations proposed.

"As the title suggests, sir, we're gonna take em by surprise so not even the smartest brain expects our presence. We'll send in a couple of false citizens who'll give us the heads up or the thumbs down. They'll check out what we've got waiting for us, and assuming everything's gone to plan, we'll send in the main forces as the impostors themselves become apart of that team. A group will take on the left, and another will take on the right; our primary goal is to get into the castle, we'll take ahold of everyone inside, and from there, we can finally begin with the true creation of the regime you've craved for this entire time, Charming sir..." the knight added, with Charming nodding along.

Everyone's eyes in the camp turned towards a limping and running knight, whining out loud as he was looking as if he was running away from something, or someone. Eventually, the Duloc knights and the bodyguard had all followed through, which had prompt everyone in the camp to back off the second they aimed their swords; they weren't even geared up, so they had no choice. The Duloc knights and the bodyguard were looking for a small green orge, one that matched the description that the President had provided them with back at Duloc. Eventually, they sighted down the tree with Felicia on it, and they sprinted as fast as possible over towards it as all the members of the camp charged towards Prince Charming's carriage to quickly inform him.

The Duloc knights had surrounded the tree branch, with their eyes only focused on Felicia, not Rumpelstiltskin. They once again targeted the Charming knight with their swords, and he too slowly backed off due to being outnumbered. Rumpelstiltskin's eyes brightened up at these new knights; they were here to rescue him, or...were they?

"Sir, one of the prisoners!" the knight exclaimed to Charming, who instantly got up from the carriage and marched as fast as possible towards the branch he initially had Rumpelstiltskin and Felicia tied up against.

He was shocked to find that Felicia was gone, and her part of the rope had been slashed. Rumpelstiltskin tried to talk, but his mouth was still stuck with the rope inside. He tried struggling his way out of the rope, shocked that they rescued Felicia, but not himself. His entire body was heating up out of panic, and when he noticed Charming, he began breathing heavily; he was just left behind, whilst Felicia was saved. He felt saddened, but also, in even more danger; he's by himself, under the grasp of Prince Charming, the man who claimed that he'll kill Rumpelstiltskin himself imminently. Rumpelstiltskin had tried gesturing for the knights to save him when they got Felicia, but there wasn't any orders to rescue anybody other than Felicia.

Charming looked around the camp, with an open mouth, before walking closer to a shocked and apprehensive Rumpelstiltskin tied against the ropes. Charming gestured for a knight to hand over a sword, in which one of them did, and Charming, gritting his teeth out of his brewing anger from Felicia being rescued, sent the sword directly against Rumpelstiltskin's rope to slash it off, dropping him down to the ground. He then shoved the sword harshly into the branch, sighing and growling whilst gritting his teeth. Rumpelstiltskin was instantly taken ahold of by his shoulders from Charming's two knights; now that he's been abandoned blatantly, he felt emotional and even more scared of the prospects of being stuck with Charming. His lips were shivering as his eyebrows pointed downwards, and his chest felt awfully weak.

"Y-You're not gonna kill me, are you?" Rumpelstiltskin asked, with his voice cracking.

Charming looked back at Rumpelstiltskin, before noticing a PND tag on the ground; he ducked down to pick it up and study the colours; red around the sides with a red circle with the PND initials in white in the middle of the circle. It made sense; Felicia was stolen by Duloc knights, and upon the realisation, he looked back up at a trembling Rumpelstiltskin.

"Not yet..." he said, chuckling as his knights still held the small guy in place.

Charming looked back at the knights standing around his back, as Rumpelstiltskin was still held firmly in place.

"We have work to do..." he said.


	24. Charming's message

**CHAPTER 24: Charming's message**

Shrek, after anxiously waiting for the return of the knights after Baystood had sent them to Charming's camp, took a walk by himself to the direction of the tunnel leading into the stadium. As he walked past the various rows of thin and tall trees, as well as the shops with rows of flowers situated at the front of their windows, Shrek noticed a huge commotion of knights in the distance, just through that tunnel. He increased his walking speed quite significantly upon the sight, and although some of the Duloc citizens nearby had given him a disgusting look, that didn't phase him, because his priority was focused on seeing if the knights were successful. His feet emitted echoing thumps throughout the tunnel, prompting the knights to turn around to face the orge. Shrek reluctantly walked as all of their eyes were planted on him, and as he got further out of the tunnel, he saw President Baystood in the middle, ducked down, as if he was talking to a dwarf.

"Just take a step back for me, orge" the closest knight in the group said, as Shrek reluctantly halted at his order.

The knights all backed up to unveil the President talking with a shocked and dismayed Felicia, who looked like she had just came out of a universe where all of this was completely isolated; as if she was shocked that the world actually existed, which had only shown just how bad being under Charming's capture was. Shrek perked up and his heart pumped rapidly at the sight of his daughter; she was untouched, and not a single mark or bruise was visible on her. She looked incredibly tired and drawn out, though.

"FELICIA!" Shrek yelled, with the President looking up at Shrek the second he heard the orge.

Felicia also looked at her dad, for the first time in what felt like DECADES; her eyes suddenly teared up. Seeing her dad again, after being under the grasp of a dangerous person who was willing to make her wish she had died, as well as facing the fear that she might not see her dad ever again, was too much for her to take in at once. She was crying out of a surreal glow in her heart, and one that had fully solidified one thing; despite the quarrel she had with her dad back at the village with Twart and Blay before being kidnapped, her love for her dad was unchanged. Shrek picked her up and absolutely squeezed her in his big, gigantic orge hands as he pressed her in with one of his hardest hugs he's ever given. Even he was starting to tear up.

"Oh Felicia...sweetheart...are you okay? d-d-..." he was coughing and sniffing with the emotional glow inside him, "did he hurt you?!" he gave her a long kiss, before pushing her tired head right into his big shoulder.

He held onto her like his life depended on it; no words could describe just how relieved and happy he was to see his daughter unharmed and now, within safe hands from Prince Charming. The President walked over towards Shrek, as the knights trailed him, where his face looked the contrast of what Shrek himself was feeling; he knew that this wasn't the end of it all. Despite learning about this Charming movement today, Baystood, having been educated on matters like this prior to becoming President, acknowledged that this is basically guaranteeing a backlash from Charming himself. It was unpredictable, because he had no idea just what this Charming guy was capable of.

He looked at Shrek precisely.

"What's done, is done. There is no need to talk about anything that has passed, nor anything that may arise in the imminent future..." the President said, walking slowly towards the fences with his knights, returning to the governing castle.

Felicia lifted her head up from Shrek's shoulder to look at him with a guilty expression.

"I-I'm sorry..." she uttered, weakly.

"No, don't you dare say you're sorry, none of this was your fault...this was mine..." he said, as he once again gave her his biggest hug of all time. "He can't get away with this..."

Some hours later, Shrek and the group had ended up in a Duloc cafe, one that resembled the shops from it's outside appearance to the point that you wouldn't even think it was a cafe, but instead, a shop. Felicia had a long nap throughout these hours, and when she woke up, she was her normal self. Being under Prince Charming meant that she was forced to be awake, which was essentially abuse. Shrek was fuming at this point; seeing his daughter in the state she was in before, back at the Duloc stadium, had only made him thirsty for one thing; give Prince Charming what he's after.

Felicia rushed her green palm onto the cooked rat in front of her, and she wasted no time in throwing it right into her mouth. She had no food under Charming, either. She felt completely normal and hyperactive again, and it was a beautiful sight to behold. Fiona reacted the same way Shrek did upon seeing Felicia, safe and sound and unharmed for the most part, with a gigantic hug, numerous kisses, and just generally exchanging the love she has for her. Fergus and Farkle couldn't stop yelling her name for five minutes, and Donkey, Puss, and the rest were all relieved and they were cheerful upon the sight of Felicia. They've all calmed down now, but it was still incredibly delightful to see Felicia back amongst the mix again.

"Don't worry, Felicia, you don't have to rush, haha" Fiona chuckled, seeing Felicia rapidly eat the cooked rat.

Felicia too chuckled at her mother and gave off a smile, as she was sit in the middle of Fergus and Farkle.

The cafe owner, in which the cafe itself was called The Edible Grub, was sceptical about some weird creatures being in his cafe, but nonetheless, he accepted them in.

"I guess then we're all sorted to head back home, then?" Donkey asked, with Shrek looking at him with uncertainty.

"I agree, comrade, risks are just far too much..." Puss added.

"G-Go home? Donkey, I changed my mind a long time ago, why would I go home?"

"Shrek, hunny, maybe he has a point? we were almost captured, and Felicia was almost killed?" she said.

"Which is why we're staying...we've seen what Charming can do, we all saw it, didn't we?" Shrek made a gigantic wide expression with his orge arms that included Pinocchio and the Three Little Pigs, "you know, back at Far-Far away? to be honest with you Fiona, I had no idea that he survived the tower when we were in Artie's business, but this time...you know what? we can't let him get away with what he's done to Felicia...and whatever he's planning, we HAVE to stop him, one way or another..." Shrek declared.

"B-But where would we start? don't you think-"

"R-Rumpel..." Felicia uttered, upon finishing her dead rat, looking quite down.

"W-What?!" Shrek said, shocked, lowering himself down to Felicia.

"M-My friend is being hurt...he never went with me..." she said, referring to the fact that he was just left behind when the Duloc knights came to the camp.

"Oh, Fiona, another thing too, Rumpelstiltskin's out there, but he's most likely got himself in a fickle with Charming, so whilst Charming deals with him, I can deal with Charming himself...you're killing two birds with one stone, huh?"

"Wait, Shrek, let the kid speak..." Donkey said, noticing that Felicia was trying to say something.

"He gets hurt...h-he...he's my friend, he wanted me to be s-safe...I miss him..." she said, stunning Shrek in particular.

"Come on, Felicia, don't believe whatever he said to you, why do you think he lured you there in the first place?"

Rumpelstiltskin honestly thought deep down, he never should have done what he did to Felicia in the first place upon the realisation that Prince Charming was never his friend. Felicia nodded in disapproval, thinking that they HAD to rescue her friend, too. The Duloc citizens had occasionally stopped outside the windows of the cafe to look at the orges and the rest, surprised at the sight of them. Duloc was a place of equality nowadays, but the citizens were still surprised at the sightings of the likes of Shrek and so on.

Shrek experienced first-hand what Rumpelstiltskin nearly did to him; Fiona and the rest technically didn't, since it was an entirely different universe. On that basis, how can anyone expect Shrek to even consider Rumpelstiltskin as somebody who needs to be saved, let alone be trusted? if anything, it's understandable as to why he wants Charming to keep the little deal-maker. Although Shrek had told his family and his friends (Donkey and etc) what Rumpelstiltskin did, and it shocked them at the time to hear about it, the fact that they hadn't experienced it had made them experience difficulty in trying to feel as angry and pissed off at him as Shrek was; until you experience it, you have no idea. They still didn't approve of him, but they were still easier to buckle in regards to Rumpel unlike Shrek.

"But uh, anyways, can you just remind me what you've got in mind?" Fiona asked.

Pinocchio interrupted, quite rudely, too.

"WOAH WOAH, nobody said that Charming was still walking?!"

"He survived the tower fall, and let me tell you, Pinocchio, he's not the same guy I saw that night on the stage back at Far-Far away...that's all I'll say about him..."

"Looks like we'd have to train ourselves up for the SAUSAGE ROLL!" One of the pigs said.

"No, nonono, you guys, just...just listen, this isn't anything for you to be concerned about...Fiona, I don't want the kids, or you for that matter, to worry about me...I'll give Charming what he wants: myself, and then that way, I'll exchange my revenge on him for causing us harm to this family...we can't let him walk, knowing he's got away with that?"

"Okay, we'll do it, Shrek...just please, at least know what you're doing if you're serious about it?" Fiona said, giving in; she too wanted Charming to be equally punished for doing what he did not only in the past, but just now, by kidnapping Felicia.

"I probably know more than what I'm already aware of, Fiona, but you know what? I'm just happy my little sweetheart here..." he patted Felicia gently on her head, "is back with us, safe and sound, we won't let anything happen to you again, Felicia..."

Up in the governing castle, the President was sat at his desk as it was covered in an uncountable amount of paper, all with papers that he had to sign. He had his hands planted upon his forehead, elbow down on the table as he rushed the pen across the papers. Suddenly, though, a knock had emerged from his door, and he wasted no time in signalling for whoever's at the door to enter. Baystood had his gloves off, making it easier for him to write on all of these letters/important documents that he needed to sign off. Emerging through the door was indeed a cabinet member of his, and it was the one with the least amount of power; there were five cabinet members in every governing group, decided during the negotiations during the period known as the 'opening up' negotiations, where Duloc was being transformed from it's dictatorship government into a democracy.

This particular cabinet member was the Minister of Outside Affairs, the person responsible for any issues situating outside of Duloc; in this case, he had been given a letter that was delivered to him by one of the knights guarding the entrance of Duloc. This letter was handed to that particular knight from a strangely-clothed up being, which was, secretly, one of Charming's closest companions; the letter had a good purpose, and it was written by Charming himself just moments after Felicia was rescued.

The five cabinet member group had included the President himself, and these were all the possible ministers in the order of how powerful they are: The President of Duloc, The Vice-President, The Minister of Armoury, The Minister of Economics, and of course, The Minister of Outside Affairs. These members had to be decided by the President himself, when he was elected to the position at the time.

"Mister President, you might want to take a look at this, it's...it's rather worrying, to say the least.." he said, handing the rolled up paper into Baystood's open hand.

"Thank you, do remain, for I may need some assistance beyond the point I've read this here letter..." Baystood said, opening up the paper.

 _To whoever this may concern,_

 _I was clearly wrong in thinking that Duloc was dignified, right? by stealing from the Empire of Charming, you have effectively confirmed to me that you want to rage war, a war which will see the lives of many innocents potentially destroyed. Now you and I both know, as leaders, that is a route we surely want to avoid? you may outnumber our knights by a ton, but any smart leader would acknowledge that numbers aren't needed when it comes to war, it is tactics, strategy, and a desire to uphold victory. About an hour after this letter has been sent off by my envoy carrying it to one of your knights, myself and my empire will be making a formal visit to seek a deal where I can legally regain the property you stole, and if you don't? well, that's a matter that'll have to be dealt with, one way or another. Our forces are strengthening, our knights are doubling, and we are ready to, should it come down to this, bring the ultimate apocalypse to the forces of your own._

 _With no respect intended, Prince Charming, leader of the rising regime which will inevitably take over this land._

President Baystood sat back, looking up at his Outside Affairs Minister, astonished.

"Dear god..." he said.

"Mister President, do you wan-"

"We need a plan...if they're as threatening as they sound on this piece of paper, we need to think some vital components through..."

Just the vocabulary of Prince Charming was enough to alarm the President; he was more than determined to protect his nation, but alongside that, he was determined to prevent this Charming guy from taking Felicia back. He has a TOUGH, tough task upcoming, but that's precisely what he was elected to do, and on that basis, he also had this on the back of his head, on the basis of wanting to protect Duloc; Prince Charming? bring it on.


	25. Intense meeting

**CHAPTER 25: Intense meeting**

In the midst of everyone getting used to seeing Felicia back, Dragon had returned from her flight, in which she had surprisingly took Lillian to Duloc; Dragon had, out of pure luck, stumbled across her whilst she was going on her own journey across the land. It was probably the perfect time for Lillian to be back around, too, due to the context of what's unfolding. When Lillian arrived, she had instantly walked over to Fiona and Shrek, and she was instantly informed on what was going on. Never did she expect to be told that Prince Charming was still alive; she thought that tower had crushed him, but clearly not. When she was informed on what he did, she was shocked, to say the least. There honestly wasn't much they could do at this point, given that Duloc had served it's purpose for Shrek and his family. The generous persona of its President however had caused an urge for them to remain within the nation for longer, and if Shrek wants to get back at Charming once and for all, staying at Duloc was probably the smartest way of going about it.

Shrek wanted to compare certain parts of the 'old Duloc' that he had seen under Farquaad's reign to today's 'new Duloc', and the first thing he instantly noticed was that the Welcome-To-Duloc machine that he and Donkey played initially was completely gone; it had been abolished when it became apparent that Duloc needed a new direction, and propaganda that had promoted Farquaad's reign was NOT ideal. Aside from it's change of government, the biggest change that Shrek had noticed was that it was actually active in every part of the town, whereas when Shrek and Donkey arrived here when Farquaad was in power, it was dead, as if it became a ghost town; it turned out that the people had filled up the stadium to watch the knight tournament. Whether or not they were forced to watch was uncertain, but when a town is that dead, it speaks volumes about the type of government that it's under, but the good news is, under the newly-democratic presidency, that ghost-town emptiness no longer occurred.

Fergus, Farkle, and especially Felicia, were rushing around the thin trees in the middle of the path within the main town of Duloc, as Shrek and Fiona and the group had resorted to wandering around to get a good glance at the place. They knew Duloc was safe from Charming, so Shrek and Fiona in particular were no longer worried about letting the three of them run far. On top of that, it was a beautiful sight to see Felicia back, playing with her brothers again. It simply didn't feel right to see Fergus and Farkle without their sister.

"Woah, take it easy little one, you don't wanna trip over, haha..." A rather elegant Duloc woman said.

Shrek eventually caught up with them.

"They're just in the mood to cause trouble, I guess, haha.." he said, with the woman smiling whilst looking unsure.

She walked off, holding onto a brown book that she had in her left hand. She was clearly heading to a location where she can read the book with peace. Once Shrek and the group fully caught up with Felicia, Fergus and Farkle, there was an alarming amount of Duloc knights emerging from the direction of the entrance; they were gathering up all the citizens. As their steel armour clamped by each running step the knights took, there was curiosity running through the minds of Shrek, Fiona and the group.

"My goodness, Fiona, how long has this been ongoing, then?" Lillian asked, as she wore a navy shaded dress.

"Oh mum, god knows how long it's actually been happening, but it's a good thing we've found out about it now, isn't it, hunny?" she said, turning the conversation to Shrek.

"You're more than right, Fiona" Shrek said.

Duloc wasn't as keen on Dragon walking through the town due to her giant size, so she had took the dronkeys for a fly around, which continues to give Charming the advantage of not being under any threat whatsoever. Lillian genuinely couldn't stop looking at Felicia as she walked with Fergus and Farkle.

"ORGES!" One of the approaching Duloc knights yelled, where the feather on the top of his helmet was in the colours of the PND flag, red, with a bigger dose of white.

"W-What's going on here?" Donkey asked.

"Prince Charming has DEMANDED a meeting with the President, we can't stop the numbers he's approaching in, he's on his way here RIGHT NOW. Get yourselves out of harm's way, and rally up with the others, pronto!"

All they did was exchange looks of discomfort at each other; especially Felicia. The second Charming's name was mentioned, Shrek picked up Felicia and held her carefully yet tightly in his grasp. This was going to be not just the most intimidating meeting, it'll inevitably be the first time Charming has seen Shrek and the lot since that night back at Far-Far away; apprehension ran high, but most importantly, they had no idea what to expect from Charming. They quickly ran off to the direction they were told to go in; things were about to get intense.

The President, and his other four cabinet members, had stood in a single file line against the entrance to the stadium; all of the citizens of Duloc were on alert as they gathered in gigantic crowds on either side of the left and right, leaving one big gap in the middle. As a swarm of Charming's knights were moving in, Felicia covered her head in fear, as Fiona held onto Fergus and Farkle. Shrek was specifically looking for Prince Charming amongst this, but he couldn't find him. These knights, although they had dangerous swords, looked somewhat outdated in comparison to the Duloc knights standing on the side of President Baystood. The Duloc citizens were talking simultaneously in their 50+ numbers, feeling somewhat intimidated from the sight of a heavily-guarded carriage, surrounded by crossbow-wielding knights emerging. Inside that very carriage contains their leader, after all.

"MAKE WAY! FOR THE KING!" The knight controlling the carriage horse yelled, which had prompt the citizens, and especially Shrek, to scratch his head; when has Charming EVER been the king of anything, let alone a nation or a kingdom?

The entire atmosphere fell to a silence as the knights wielding crossbows had turned to face the crowd of Duloc citizens; they didn't aim their crossbows at them, but their robotic and stubborn movements were enough to frighten everybody. Shrek, on the other hand, feeling like he has an obligation to get revenge against Charming, was far from scared. A couple of the knights had walked over towards the hatch of the pale carriage with it's wooden wheels, slowly opening it to unveil the inside as the President watched on with a frown on his face; he knew that this was a situation that couldn't be stopped, due to the risk of a conflict. Stepping out of the carriage, wearing a red leotard with his bearded chin, was none other than Prince Charming; Shrek's heart instantly felt like it stopped beating; this is it, Shrek, Donkey, Puss, Lillian, and the rest, for the first time now, have just seen Charming since that supposed-death of his back at Far-Far away, and by god, was he intimidating than ever. He had a chain in his hand and yanked it from inside the carriage, prompting Rumpelstiltskin, covered in blood marks around his cheeks and just overall a weak appearance, to rush out. Everybody was shocked the second the little dwarf had came out; this was clearly a prisoner, but an innocent prisoner who didn't deserve to be imprisoned in the first place.

Charming handed the chain over to one of his knights, as he gave off a stare at Shrek and Felicia and the group in general whilst the eyes of all the Duloc citizens were on him; seeing Shrek again made him want to fulfill his desire of impressing his mother by avenging her, and on top of that, himself, for that very orge leaving him unhinged and a strong dose of thirst for revenge. Shrek gritted his teeth at Charming's direction, as Donkey and the rest delivered angry-looking expressions. The Three Little Pigs slammed their knuckles against their hands at Charming, as Pinocchio lifted up his wooden hands as if he was ready for a fight. Puss pulled out his silver sword, but none of this scared Charming; he's got his entire force with him right now, and should any of those cretins try and attack him, they'll be the first ones to suffer the wrath.

Rumpelstiltskin's lips were trembling as he looked at Felicia being carried by Shrek; he intentionally gave an expression that had clearly said 'please help me, I'm sorry'. He looked like he was about to cry, and his ripped clothes, the scratch marks around his cheeks, caught Shrek off guard initially, but it all comes down to the past; Shrek simply couldn't look at Rumpelstiltskin with sympathy after what he had put the orge himself through. Rumpel acknowledged that he was being observed by over 50+ citizens, feeling like this was his only chance of an escape. Felicia moved her arms out from her dad's shoulder to point at Rumpelstiltskin. Shrek couldn't do it, again. Felicia looked incredibly upset at the state her friend was in, after everything's he's done for her to ensure that she didn't suffer.

There was a drastic contrast in Charming's knights in comparison to Duloc's knights; the armour of the knights on Charming's side wasn't shiny, and in fact, they had a bit of rust on them, whereas the Duloc knights had flawless-looking, gem-shining armour without a single trace of rust. Although this was the case, it didn't mean that Charming's forces didn't pose a formidable threat to Duloc. Prince Charming took one last glare over at Shrek's direction, as Lillian herself looked incredibly shocked at Charming, to the point that her mouth was open in a gasp. To say that Prince Charming's recurrence caught everyone off guard on Shrek's side would be an understatement; not only was Charming secretly delivering a different vibe to the one he was giving back at Far-Far away, that vibe was of somebody who's clearly a bigger threat than he was in the past, especially now that he's got a former threat like Rumpelstiltskin captured, and in full display.

Once Charming stood completely adjacent to the President, who had his knights and his bodyguards alongside his cabinet members around him, he couldn't help but smile as if to say 'you think you can get away with this, don't you?'

"I believe you have something that belongs to me..." Charming said, turning back to the direction of Shrek, in the midst of the silent Duloc citizens watching the dangerous confrontation.

"You took her with dangerous intentions, don't try and justify your unacceptable mannerisms to me..." Baystood responded, with the citizens mumbling amongst each other as Fiona's heart was pumping faster out of the anxiety of Charming's dangerous presence.

"Have you forgotten what happens when you illegally take from an established natio-"

"DO NOT play the nation game with me, 'Charming'. Yours is nothing more than a cowardly presence of thugs, who pose not a single threat to the People's Nation of Duloc..."

Charming looked surprised at the President, his thought was that this idiot actually has a name for his so-called dignified nation.

"Well then if that's the case, then, why are you so reluctant in giving her back? even her bones are my property..."

Shrek stomped out from the crowd, prompting Charming's knights to aim their crossbows at him. He didn't care, though. Charming's provocative and punchable attitude, alongside the fact he's talking about Felicia as if she was an object, when he's right IN FRONT of Charming himself, had prompt the orge to briefly rage internally to the point that he'd step out to address Charming.

"Go on then, try it, see what happens, Charming, I absolutely want you to try it!" Shrek yelled, with the knights near Charming's carriage gritting their teeth under their concealed helmets, clicking their crossbows in the event that they'll have to impale this rotten orge to protect their dear leader.

As Shrek stood closer to the carriage, Rumpelstiltskin needed to take this opportunity. He used his body language to grab Shrek's attention, as he was crying now, with his face stinging as if it was dipped into lava.

"H-Help...m-m-me..." he whispered, with Shrek unable to devote all of his time to Rumpelstiltskin, due to Charming.

Luckily, Prince Charming didn't notice his only prisoner talking to Shrek to beg the orge to save him, and instead, he simply chuckled at Shrek's threat. The knights of Duloc had gestured for Shrek to step back, as did the President; this wasn't a matter for Shrek to deal with any longer, and they didn't want him to get hurt from Charming's knights.

"Do you really think that you'll intimidate me? do you..genuinely believe that I'm as soft as I once was? filthy orge..." Charming asked, condescending Shrek in his tone.

Shrek stepped back slowly to the middle of Fiona and Lillian, as his teeth remained gritted. Charming simply looked back at President Baystood, chuckling in the process.

"You saw my letter, didn't you? you know what happens if you refuse to give her back, don't you? with her legally being my own?" he said, before turning himself around to the direction of his carriage, to talk to the Duloc citizens and his own knights.

The reason why Charming's making Felicia being rescued from his hands a big deal is because she was the lure for Shrek to come to his base; that way, he could impress and avenge his mother and himself, but now that she's back in the orge's hands, he can't do that. The opportunity to do that was too valuable for him to lose, and there's no way he's backing down from it.

"ALL OF DULOC SHALL BE TAKEN OVER BY EVERY PART OF IT'S SOIL, AND IT SHALL BEGIN A NEW PHASE OF LEADERSHIP..." Charming said, before pointing to Felicia, "THAT ORGE, WILL DIE...BY ONE WAY...or another..." he added, with Shrek once again breathing heavily to the point that his shoulders were moving up and down; he genuinely wanted to knock Charming out.

Felicia kept her eyes closed against her dad's shoulder, feeling scared.

The crowd of citizens were talking louder amongst themselves, as the threat to take over Duloc had suddenly formed a cloud of worry above their brains; what if it's true? they have families here, and they can't afford to be invaded, not in the slightest; they were praying for the President to come up with a solution.

"You better not refuse me my right..." Charming said.

"Okay, ENOUGH..." The President said, with a firm voice.

There was a silence for 7+ seconds, as he looked at Charming with a straight face.

"We'll talk about this alone, where we aren't being watched..." he said, suddenly turning his back to Charming to walk through the tunnel.

Prince Charming began walking subsequently to the direction of the President, where the bodyguards and the cabinet members were widely cautious of him as he got closer, but this was the President's request, so they couldn't do anything to stop Charming. He stopped to stare and look up and down at one of the bodyguards with a growl, before just missing his shoulder shoving the chest of the bodyguard. They watched him ever so closely.

"Shrek, Shrek, Shrek, please get me out...I don't wanna die...look look, you hate me I know, I'm sorry, but please...I don't wanna die..." Rumpelstiltskin pleaded, before being yanked back by the knight holding his chain, locked to his arm.

Shrek avoided looking down at Rumpelstiltskin, which surprised Fiona particularly; why was he being heartless?

"I saved her...I did wrong, I admit it, just...I tried to protect her at any given point, and I did, just...just let me go, I'm sorry..."

Shrek again, ignored him, which began shocking Lillian, too; this little guy has been beaten up and is a prisoner of Charming, yet Shrek is ignoring his pleas, even after he admitted he did wrong, and that he ensured Felicia was protected.

About five minutes later, the crowd all gathered back around at the sight of Charming emerging through the tunnel; Rumpelstiltskin was still crying, even more so at the sight of Charming; it means now, he won't be rescued. The President subsequently followed through the tunnel, and as Charming moved to the carriage, he gave Shrek a straight, death-stare before neutrally turning away from the orge. The knight opened up the carriage, and the President, all of this time, didn't notice Rumpelstiltskin, hence why he didn't mention him ONCE. Baystood looked all over the crowd, specifically, at Shrek as he had Felicia, to make an announcement on what's been agreed.

"Discussions will continue in a summit, with a greater chance of peace..." the President said, causing the crowd to cheer and clap.

"How do I know you'll come along, fool?" Charming yelled, in the midst of the crowd cheering and clapping.

The bodyguards all stepped towards Charming's carriage aggressively, which was a way to indicate to Charming that the President will indeed go through with his promise. This caused Charming to step back inside the carriage, and subsequently, on the route to his base after his formal meeting with the President in regards to Felicia. As Shrek and his family celebrated the supposed breakthrough as the numerous Charming knights were turning around as was the carriage to leave, with their crossbows and swords, Shrek eyed up Rumpelstiltskin placing his hands against the window of the carriage, looking at Shrek with a trembling, teary, scratched-face, and this time, it hit Shrek very reluctantly in the heart. Rumpelstiltskin's face was slowly erasing as the carriage moved further downwards due to it being harder to sight the window from where Shrek was standing. Shrek huffed slightly before looking down at the ground, still holding Felicia nonetheless tightly.

"M-Goodness me, is Charming really that...ruthless, Fiona?" Lillian asked.

"He can't go on like that forever, mum!" Fiona yelled, due to the crowd clapping at the sound of peace being established just now.

Shrek, on the other hand, was starting to wonder if he should possibly let the past go, and one things for sure; Fiona and Lillian are surely going to bring it up to him, what he did just now.


	26. Bombshell

**CHAPTER 26: Bombshell**

As the sky was darkening for the end of the day, the citizens of Duloc had once again packed the crowd area near the entrance to the stadium. The President had an important announcement in regards to the summit that he's meant to be attending, face-to-face against Prince Charming with the intent of preventing whatever Charming himself has got in mind escalating, in which that will be accomplished by talks and negotiations between the two. Shrek and his family were preparing to leave, although Shrek still had that desire to somehow avenge Felicia for what she had gone through thanks to Charming, but ultimately, they came here for one purpose, and due to the generosity of the President, that purpose had been fulfilled, rendering their time in this place pointless. They didn't attend the President's important announcement, because despite Shrek genuinely wanting to give Prince Charming what he deserves, they wanted to distance themselves from that situation altogether and in particular, Fiona and Lillian. They didn't stop bragging Shrek about the fact he ignored the tiny dwarf in Rumpelstiltskin before, where he was clearly imprisoned harshly.

The President emerged from the far door at the governing castle, walking alongside his four cabinet members situated besides the bodyguards. Once the President arrived at the podium, his four cabinet members stood in even numbers on both sides; two on the President's left, and two on the President's right. He adjusted his thick coat before moving forwards with the declaration.

"I have just chaired a high-level meeting with my cabinet...where it was agreed that we will NOT be attending the proposed summit, and there are bright and clear reasons for our decision...when we look at our dignified nation, we embark upon the memories of how we transformed it into the glorious place it is today, and we're proud of what we've accomplished thus far. The People's Nation of Duloc believes in efficiency, not inefficiency, and we especially don't believe in appeasements. What you all saw today, in the form of who's supposedly referred to as 'Prince Charming', was nothing more than a gang of thugs who clearly have intentions of a dangerous nature. We want to use our armoury in times where we really need it, not in times where it is inefficient and ultimately, in useless conflicts. I intentionally claimed to him that I'd accept a summit, but in reality, I only said it to drive him off. However, my cabinet minister for the armoury, and myself had some specific discussions in regards to the prospects..."

The armoury minister for Duloc nodded, as he looked to the podium with the President.

"We will be strengthening up the entrance to our Duloc nation for the time being. We take these threats seriously, regardless of how minimal the source of the threats is, and it is in my cabinet's interest, alongside mine, to protect the people, which is why, for approximately two weeks following this announcement, knights will be armoured up with bigger weapons amongst many other equipment that'll be needed to tackle a potential, unlikely, certain occurrence..."

The President looked up to the citizens, as they all seemed to nod, and subsequently, they clapped; they didn't take Charming seriously either, despite the fact that there was a suffering prisoner attached to a chain.

"If it comes down to the point that we have to take action, as much as we don't want to, we will have no choice, but to totally destroy the supposed 'regime' of the man leading the knights down to our nation today. Should he attack us, he will be on a suicide mission for himself, and for his group of thugs. We are Duloc, and we will not back down from a threat, regardless of the weakness of him...thank you, very much..." the President said, ending his speech to a loud collection of claps and cheers as he waved at the crowd.

As the President watched the crowd of his own citizens cheer for his decision, two guys amongst the crowd, standing directly besides one another, had looked like pure statues in that they didn't move at all. All they did, and quite suspiciously, was stare at the President. One had a pony tail within his hair, wearing regular, yet somewhat-ripped civilian clothes, and the same was for the other one, except that his hair wasn't as long. They looked at each other, nodding, as it appeared as if they had gathered some information of some kind, but what, precisely? as their vacant movements distinguished their bodies, the President briefly looked at them, and he was surprised to find that their eyes have seemingly kept themselves on himself this entire time. He looked at them as if they were a far distance away, before ditching the suspicious mindset he was just getting. The two of them took for the tunnel exit.

Shrek and his family were at the opening of Duloc, realising that the sky was getting dark. Dragon had returned, and Donkey was already on her, waiting to fly. The dronkeys had remained with her all of this time, because they were frankly petrified of the things they had seen. Lillian and Fiona still didn't get off of Shrek's back about that little guy chained up with Prince Charming's forces.

"Shrek, you were standing a couple of steps away, and if you really wanted to get back at Charming, you'd have saved him. Why did you do that?" Fiona asked.

"Come on baby, let's head on back!" Donkey said, with Dragon smiling at her husband as he steadily remained on her back to prepare for the flight.

Everybody, including the Three Little pigs and Pinocchio, were all going to be given a flight back; it was the normal for her, though, and one of the benefits of being a big dragon is that this really isn't a hard task for her at all.

"Fiona, what do you want me to say?"

"You left him with Charming, when you knew full well that he was in-"

"Listen, I've had my doubts about that, but you have no idea what he did to me, and what he nearly did to me ultimately...I DID want to get him out of there, secretly, but how can I trust somebody who's not only deceiving, but contains the capability to wipe out my entire existence?!"

"I uh, w-what?" Fiona struggled.

"Exactly. I can't explain it to you, Fiona, it's something you wouldn't understand, despite me telling you on numerous occasions. Let's drop it, anyways, I don't wanna argue in front of Felicia after the experience she's just gone through with Charming..."

"Well Shrek, would it not have been...generous of you to at least try and let the past slip, whatever he may have done?" Lillian asked, as the entire group began boarding Dragon.

Shrek simply sighed, and didn't respond.

"But uh, what's the plan anyways?"

"I don't know, Fiona, but given that we're now aware of what's surrounding the swamp, is it honestly a good idea for us to go back? I wa-"

"Why don't we visit Far-Far away, Fiona and Shrek?" Lillian suggested.

"You've gotta be kiddi-" Shrek was interrupted as he was still ensuring that his kids were on Dragon before boarding her himself.

"Why not, Shrek? I think it'd be a good time to catch up with Artie, see how he's settled in with running the kingdom?"

"Fiona, it's a big stretch to go from saving our daughter from a maniac, to suddenly wanting to visit another kingdom as if nothing had happened...it's out of the blue, isn't it?"

"Okay, genius, what do you propose we do? you said it yourself; Charming's clearly got some activity going on around the swamp, so surely we'd be smart in at least going to Far-Far away to let everything around here cool off...or at least, let time run it's course?"

"But what about Felicia, Fiona? she can't be expected to...forget it, you wanna go to Far-Far away? we'll go to Far-Far away, but I have no idea if Artie will allow us to temporarily get somewhere to stay..."

"Don't be such a drama queen, Shrek, he'll allow us..."

"Ooo, you hear that, baby? we're gonna go to Far-Far away instead, is that okay?" Donkey asked, with Dragon surprisingly smiling and nodding.

Granted, they could stay at Duloc, but given that Charming's now targeted the nation, Shrek and the family felt like it wasn't safe enough. Plus, as mentioned before, they've already got what they needed from the nation; it's assistance in rescuing Felicia, precisely what they had accomplished, so what was the use in remaining, especially since it's now in the eyes of Charming?

Shrek walked towards Dragon's gigantic wing as he was the last one to board her. As he walked, Pinocchio, Puss, and pretty much everybody on Dragon had looked directly ahead of Shrek's body, caught by surprise. Fiona looked confused, Lillian looked concerned, and Donkey kept looking back at whatever it was they were seeing from Shrek. That was the same for the rest on Dragon. Shrek looked up, as he noticed their expressions. Dragon also looked at them, and it caught her by surprise at the vacancy of the sight.

"What're you all looking at?" Shrek said, turning around to what was a chilling sight.

Two guys, wearing ripped civilian clothes, were standing directly adjacent to Shrek, albeit a distance away. It was almost as if they were spies, just watching Shrek and the group without them being aware of being watched. Shrek noticed their stances, and he walked off of Dragon's wing to stand directly behind it. They just...stood there, not moving a single bit, as their expressions were also straight. Fiona and the kids were skeptical.

"Uh, Shrek, you might wanna-"

"No, hang on, Fiona, they want something..."

It was strange, because the citizens back at Duloc were quieting down for the night, so not only did Shrek have to cope with seeing two statue-like figures staring at him, but the breeze of the air also added to the mysterious atmosphere due to how quiet the citizens were. Shrek began walking closer and closer to them, before suddenly, and both at the same time, they had took off like two cheetahs for the direction of the sunflower fields. Shrek briefly chased after them.

"HEY! HEY!" he yelled, but to no use; they had ran through the sunflower fields already.

Shrek walked back towards Dragon with everyone on her.

"Something tells me that Charming's got eyes beyond the back of his head..." Fiona said.

"If they were truly apart of his little group or whatever, I would of loved to be told where he is at the minute. How weird was that, though?"

"Look, I think we oughta get outta here before we get ourselves in more trouble..." Donkey said.

Were the two guys just now apart of Charming's rising regime movement? was the question running through Shrek's head; if he's became that sly and slithery, then Charming has definitely evolved into a bigger threat than he once was. Granted, Dragon could easily track them down, or she could just fly to Charming's little camp and end it all, but they didn't want to risk it, especially now that Felicia's only just returned from being in the grasp of Charming. Shrek took one final glance at the direction of the swaying sunflowers, boarding Dragon entirely. They were gone; nothing could be heard in those sunflowers, which made it creepy. Next stop, though, Far-Far away.

Rumpelstiltskin was chained against a tree trunk, closer to Prince Charming after returning from Duloc. He was writing something else on paper, with a struggling Rumpelstiltskin trying to plea with him to let him go.

"Why do you want me here, Charming? it doesn't have to be this way..."

"Keep pestering me, and I'll decrease the time you'll be waiting for when you meet what I've had planned for you all of this time..."

Rumpelstiltskin had grown a small dose of confidence, but not enough to fully protest against Charming physically, and he couldn't anyways, due to the fact that he's chained up.

"You know what? maybe Shrek wasn't so bad after all, huh? I can admit my wrongs...I saved that little orge from YOU, but you seem intent on using your plastic knights here to accomplish something that'll spell out your doom..." the dwarf said, with his heart pumping faster after saying that.

"Oh Rumpel, please, do you think this is about THEM? I've got that President right in my hands, when I let him think that I truly mean business, haha, he never will have guessed just how wrong he was. And as for your little claim, let me remind you..." he moved away from the carriage, holding a piece of paper in his hand. "You think I WANT to have these guys in my position when I accomplish what I HAVE to do?"

"W-What're you saying?"

"Come on Rumpel, you're obnoxious, but you're not obnoxious enough to get my point, right? I need these guys right now, until I'm powerful enough that I can, one-by-one, eliminate them so absolutely nobody can threaten my position...or my mother's position..."

"T-Threaten y-you-"

"I'd add more, but you're a prisoner, I've already said too much. Listen, when the time comes, you'll be glad that I killed you. Like I said, the wrath of my PERSONAL regime will be unbearable, to the point that you'll beg for your killing to take you away, haha..."

Prince Charming lifted up the paper to show what was written on it to Rumpelstiltskin; it was very brief, but the dwarf's eyes were laid on it for a long enough duration to get what the words were. Of course, Charming had no intent on showing this letter to the President when he gets here, (even though he isn't actually coming for a summit after all) but rather, a few days from now, delivered by one of his undercover knights to check the possible routes when it comes to the Invasion of Duloc. The words sent a chill in Rumpel's spine despite standing up to Charming briefly. And what's more, by the time the letter is shown to the governors of Duloc, the invasion would be moments away from starting, so they wouldn't have time to react physically.

 _The Empire of Charming has formally declared war on the PND. We're coming for you._

And by god, chilling, it was.


	27. Life gamble

**CHAPTER 27: Life gamble**

As the two guys undercover were due to return to the camp, Rumpelstiltskin had been informed that his formal execution as the final prisoner, before the 'Charming Empire' officially becomes one big regime within the territory of Duloc when they invade the nation, will take place tomorrow morning, and ever since he was told this, trains of apprehension had steamrolled in his head, despite having the confidence to stand up to Charming earlier on. Why was Charming so intent on killing him, though? is it apart of his plan to impress Fairy Godmother, his mother, or maybe, is it because he sees Rumpelstiltskin as a genuine threat to his plans, given that Rumpel's used contracts in the past to drastically change the lives, and specifically, the life of a certain orge in Shrek? nobody knew. Given that Charming's kept him as a prisoner for this long, though, and has refused to allow him to escape into the open world, may or may not speak some volumes. Prince Charming never had that ability with contracts, and arguably, Rumpelstiltskin was a bigger threat to Shrek with those contracts, in comparison to Charming's coup of Far-Far away at the time, so could that secretly be Charming's fear? again, nothing could be pinpointed on this matter.

He was once again tied up against a tree trunk, with a ton of tight ropes around his body and the trunk itself. There was a knight just patrolling the trunk in circles, not the one however who had taunted him prior to Felicia being rescued by those Duloc knights. This was a different knight. The thought of being executed for real made Rumpelstiltskin resort to bribing the knight into letting him go, but the knight himself simply wasn't budging.

"Dear knight...could you do me a good deed by letting me go?" he asked, high pitched.

The knight moved his helmet back to unveil his bearded face. He looked at Rumpelstiltskin in boredom as his eyes began rolling. He acknowledged that Rumpelstiltskin was stubborn in that he won't stop asking the same question over and over, and it was genuinely getting on his nerves.

"Listen, you have no right in being released. King Charming has ordered me to watch you, precisely and harshly. If you're gonna mess around with my head, I'll remind you that what we've done is only a preview of things to come, so just don't push me any longer, you got it?"

"B-But I can make you a deal that you can't refuse? I'm very generous?"

"What a load of toadstools that is. You won't be making any deals come tomorrow, though will you?" he laughed, crossing his arms against his armoured-up chest.

Rumpelstiltskin's heart felt like it was burning; the more he was being told that he wasn't getting released, the more his apprehension crawled into his head about his execution tomorrow.

"You're a smart person, aren't you? I could offer you annnyythingggg in the woooooorlddd..." Rumpelstiltskin said, in a highly pitched tone.

"Cut it out, will you?"

Rumpel cleared his throat, and he tried to think of something that he'd normally offer on one of his contracts back in the day. Each time he spoke in his highly pitched tone, there'd be a few cracks due to the fear of being executed.

"I know you admire your leader...right? well why not step aside and take the opportunity to be in HIS boots for not a week...not a month...not even two months, but AN ENTIRE YEAR?!" Rumpelstiltskin said, putting on a cheerful tone in his voice.

"That's ridiculous. You do understand that we're living in the real world? stop being fantasised for crying out loud..." the knight insisted.

"I'm Rumpelstiltskin, only the best deal-maker going, do you not know who I am, dear knight? I can offer you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you surely won't want to miss. You want to run your own territory with Charming? why not be THE leader of that future territory for a certain amount of time, huh?"

"You're pushing me, little guy..."

Rumpelstiltskin gulped; all he needed to do was go into more detail, but this knight's stubborn attitude was worrying him even more, and he was starting to feel lightheaded from the pure apprehension.

"Oh, okay, I was just hoping that you'd release me so I can guide us to my little carriage where I store all of my magical contract papers, so we can work together to give you your hidden desire to be leader, but that's okay, I guess you truly do want to lose out on the opportunity, don't you? what with my hundreds of contracts alongside the one I'm offering you, such as king for a month, monster for a day...ah, forget it..."

He didn't have any of that anymore, but he was only saying this to draw the knight in. He looked at Rumpel, eyebrows raised as all of that detail sounded like it couldn't have just simply been made up.

"H-Hundreds?" he reluctantly asked, looking in every direction to make sure that nobody else was around, especially Prince Charming.

"Oh yeah. Whatever you want, I can make it a reality for you. You just need to sign one with a drop of magic ink, and then all of your biggest dreams, everything you've imagined, will come to life in the blink of an eye..."

The knight reluctantly looked around the camp, as Rumpel looked up at him. He could see that he was debating what to do, whether he should let Rumpel himself go.

"Think about it...you're always admiring the great, dear leader in Prince Charming, huh? I bet you're tired of that, huh? and the best thing is, you won't have to pay a single thing back to me, it's all for free, because I believe in giving anybody the freedom of magic, to allow them to experience their ideal reality...ahhhhh..." he cheerfully continued.

"But I can't just let you go, I have orders..."

"Who says anybody has to know, huh? untie me, we'll go to the carriage, give you your contract to transform you into the leader you've always wanted to be, and then I can come back here...and the best thing is, nobody will know that you're gone, so you won't even have to suffer the consequences if they find out that you let me go...how does that sound?"

"S-So I can...I mean, all I have to do is sign a contract and then...I'll..." the knight let off a sigh, scratching the back of his neck inside his armour.

He looked all around the camp from where he was standing. As he took reluctant, backward steps towards the trunk that he's rested his sword against, his entire body did a 360 turn to ensure that nobody was close enough to witness him releasing the prisoner. Rumpelstiltskin tried to keep his smile on his face, but his biggest concern of how he'll run away from these guys when the rope is slashed off stopped him from feeling entirely safe for the moment. The knight grabbed the sword, and reluctantly walked in front of Rumpelstiltskin; despite his order to keep Rumpelstiltskin in place, he couldn't resist what sounded like a genuine possibility of being transferred into a world temporarily where he's in the boots of Prince Charming.

"I can't believe I'm doing this..."

"If you let me go, we can get to work on that deal I'm willing to give you, free of any charge, hahaha..." Rumpelstiltskin said.

He raised the sword up high into the air, before sending it downwards rapidly to chop directly through the rope; the second the collision between the rope and the sword was established, Rumpelstiltskin's tight grip against the trunk was instantly decreased, and his heart began pumping rapidly. Just as he was about to initiate his escape, three more knights had emerged from the camp's inner area to check up. Rumpelstiltskin backed up against the trunk, and the knight that had just released him stood directly in front of Rumpel; his heart began pumping rapidly as it felt like it was burning upon the realisation that his fellow knights might acknowledge that he's just released the prisoner.

"Why are you out here?" one of them asked.

"I was uh...just ensuring that he wasn't gonna escape?"

Rumpelstiltskin stood as still as if he was in a block of ice; he just couldn't think in-depth at this point due to the intensity emerging of potentially being caught at the fact he's no longer tied up.

"I know you're hiding something, I can see it from your eyes, what're you containing, boy?" one of the knights said.

The other knight walked over to Rumpelstiltskin, and he instantly noticed that his body was without the rope.

"So come on, spill it out?"

"Do you expect me to say a-anything?" the trembling knight who had just slashed Rumpel from the rope said.

"I do, and you're gonna talk up. We can't let anything go within a secret these days, what with us ensuring that we'll get the best result out of our future regime, you know?"

"I-I don't have-"

"Uh, is his rope off?"

Rumpelstiltskin stood still for a few seconds as everybody turned to him; the rope was right on his feet, and they noticed it. His insides felt like they were on fire. Not thinking clearly within the heat of the moment, Rumpelstiltskin took a rapid run for the north. The knights instantly became alarmed, as Rumpel sprinted through the air as he began panting out loud in pure panic.

"HEEY!" one of the knights yelled, with the voice flowing into Rumpel's direction.

"WAIT, I DIDN'T MEAN-AHHH! AHH!"

"YOU TRAITOR!" one of the knights yelled, before a collision of armour could be heard in the distance from Rumpel's charging body, followed by a fist colliding harshly against the face of somebody, most likely the knight who had let Rumpel go stupidly.

Rumpelstiltskin charged through the woods and past the camp like a train, with the knights in the camp instantly alarmed about his escape. He ran through the cold, dark, and hard-to-see atmosphere as the sense of being caught up by an unknown presence behind had made him pant out loud with his voice. One of the knights who had just attacked the one that slashed Rumpel's rope had briefly followed him, before stopping to study the woods briefly; his companions joined him from behind as he gritted his teeth upon studying the dark image of the woods leading to Duloc. They were fully intent on chasing down this escaping prisoner. The knight who let Rumpel go was nowhere to be seen; he was attacked for 'betraying' everybody by letting the prisoner in Rumpel escape.

Rumpel stopped right in front of the way through the sunflower field to turn around as his heart did a thousand pumps at once. He slid further into the field as the knights all stopped to study the surrounding area to find him.

"Come out here, we aren't messing around...you've worsened yourself..."

Rumpelstiltskin charged off again, with the sunflower movements catching the attention of one of the knights, prompting him to charge through it at the same time to catch up with Rumpel. Rumpelstiltskin could hear another set of boots catching up, and it was as if he was in a room with all the walls closing in. He kept running, before noticing what appeared to look like two figures ahead.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" the knight yelled to himself, which intimidated Rumpel.

There was nothing he could do but run, and his mind was closed off from all of his surroundings. Rumpelstiltskin bashed his tiny body into what looked like ripped clothes, knocking down a guy with a ponytail in his hair, and another guy, the two undercover knights. He wasted no time in stepping back up, running right over their bodies like a bridge to continue his escape. The knight charging behind Rumpel had felt something, like a boulder, collide in front of his feet, in which this was the body of one of the undercover knights returning. They all moaned in pain.

"W-WHAT'RE YOU DOING?! YOU'RE MESSING ME UP!" he yelled, standing back up.

Rumpel stopped, as he felt like his mind was restored, feeling like he had outran the knight, but then suddenly, a dark yet shiny figure was emerging with the clanking of steel moving closer and closer. He busted out from amongst the sunflowers to duck down and grab ahold of Rumpel's tiny body.

"ARGH! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Rumpel yelled, struggling with the knight, pushing his head and everything.

"THEN STOP STRUGGLING! YOU'RE COMING BACK!"

Rumpel pushed his fingers through the holes of the knight's helmet to forcefully scratch the skin of his face; this caused the knight to yell out loud, but it didn't make him drop Rumpel. Rumpel, panicking even more as the knight was increasing his speed in the opposite direction, hardened the scratches before moving his fingers to the eyes of the knight. He harshly poked them, where upon doing so, with the burning sensation running in the knight's eyeballs, he dropped Rumpel harshly, before running once again towards the direction of Duloc through the sunflower field.

"AAAAAARGHHHHHHHH!" he yelled, throwing off his helmet to push his palms right into his eyes.

The two undercover knights emerged, joining him.

Rumpelstiltskin slipped on his balance, he was that caught out of his mind from the weakening-like-sensation of his lungs, to pelt his chest directly against the dirt. He was closer to the other side of this field, leading to Duloc, but the two undercover knights had emerged. Luckily, Rumpelstiltskin camouflaged himself to the point that they couldn't see him, and as soon as he regained his feet, he began sprinting like the clappers again. The three knights charged after him. Getting out of the sunflower fields, the three knights wasted no time in revealing themselves to the nearby Duloc knights so they could all make a dive for his body, with the armoured up knight, red eyes and all, landing above him.

"YOU'RE GONNA REGRET THIS WHEN WE GET BACK, I WARN YA!" he yelled, with Rumpel once again sending his two hands to the cheeks of the knight.

"Woah WOAH, what's going on over there? there's some sort of commotion?!" one of the guarding Duloc knights said, pointing to the knight laying down above Rumpel's struggling body near the sunflower field.

"I SWEAR, CHARMING WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER MORE THAN EVER AFTER THIS!" the knight yelled, gulping at the sight of an entire group of knights from the nearby Duloc entrance sprinting over.

The second the knight's grip over Rumpel's body lessened at the sight of the Duloc knights aiming their steel spears, the little deal-maker charged off for the entrance as his speed was faster than ever. He got to the entrance, before stopping out of exhaustion, and ultimately, collapsing onto the cold hard concrete of Duloc's entrance.

"You either turn around right now, or we will consider this an act of aggression..two choices, make up your minds?" one of the Duloc knights said, prompting Charming's three knights to back up, as they were unprepared, for now, anyways.

About ten minutes later, Charming stumbled into the camp as everybody seemed worked up and panicked. The three knights that had failed in capturing Rumpelstiltskin emerged, where, upon seeing Prince Charming, they all gulped simultaneously.

"What's going on here?" Charming asked.

"S-Sir...I'm so very sorry...he got away..."

"W-Who did?"

"The prisoner-"

"He what?!"

"Sir, we did however claim things you wanted us to note..the orges are heading for Far-Far away, and that President? he's not coming here after all-"

"I give you lunatics one job...ONE JOB...and you..." Charming had growled, before suddenly moving forwards towards one of the undercover knights to pelt him harshly out of anger against the nose, sending him down to the floor.

As he looked down angrily at the fallen body, all of the other knights had backed up slightly; an angry Charming was NOT an ideal one for what their goal was.

"You lot are utterly useless, but if it makes your worthless selves feel better, with Shrek being gone, and with this cowardly President not showing up...we have a reason to invade earlier than later...and as for Rumpelstiltskin, he won't be out of my hands for that long...hehe..."

"Sort yourselves out, my mother and I are intent on creating this regime for ourselves, and we do NOT intend on having some scruffy cowards messing that up...GET BACK TO IT!" Charming yelled, walking away from the commotion.

"I'm so sorry mummy...I hope what those idiots just did now hasn't disappointed you...two of our prisoners have gone, but trust me mother, when we take over Duloc, he'll be back in our grasp...and he may have escaped an execution for now, but come the time in when I have full power, alongside you, over Duloc, he'll be back to where he was when he was still with me...don't worry mummy, our revenge is still thriving and approaching...and P.S, mother? we'll kill Shrek by luring him, most importantly of all, so we can fully complete our goal...I love you..."


	28. Charming's mega gain

**CHAPTER 28: Charming's mega gain**

Having the President break his promise about coming here, foiling the plans Charming had for the 'summit' was bad enough, but also having Rumpelstiltskin, his prisoner that he would have used to showcase his courage and determination to avenge Fairy Godmother and himself in what would have been 'phase 1' of that process by the execution, escape from his grasp into Duloc was the last straw. Prince Charming had every single reason to push his invasion date forwards to an earlier point. Rather than two days time, Charming's set the invasion to begin at midnight tomorrow. The idea is that Charming's going to give Duloc the impression that he's truly given up, so when Duloc's own knights are not expecting anything, that's when he'll strike.

Charming picked up a crossbow and aimed it precisely for the tree-trunk ahead. He firmly pressed the trigger, and the arrow came roaring out of the crossbow, in a straight direction for a penetration against the wood with it's thick, steel arrowhead. He nodded in approval. He may be outnumbered by Duloc, but Charming's tactic is to outnumber them in the amount of crossbows they have. Rather than sending out a large number of melee knights, he'll equip his knights with mostly crossbows, and from that point, he can kill more knights without the risk of losing any of his knights. He was more focused on getting this done because of the two escapes in the form of Felicia and Rumpelstiltskin. The amount of crossbows that Charming's planning on creating, in his head, will easily overwhelm the Duloc forces, as they're in for an unexpected amount of ranger knights.

A knight had pulled the arrow from the tree trunk, before Charming was approached by two big-looking knights.

"Your majesty, we've re-done the plan to fit in with what you want. Take a look..." he said, holding out a big rolled up piece of paper for Charming to take.

Charming took ahold of the paper as he walked over to his carriage again. He unrolled it out to unveil a full on battle plan, with details in the corners, and a rough outline of what they're coming up against in the form of Duloc's borders. Numerous tiny arrows had been drawn right in the middle of the square that represents Duloc.

"Rather than attacking from the front, we can get an internal attack to prevent them regrouping. We'll initially hide out at the front, and then a signal will be provided to those inside. When the signal goes, they'll fire out their arrows. They won't see it coming. After taking out the internal knights, we'll make our advance into the town, assuming that there's no other knights to prevent us from taking more of their territory. We'll make sure that the citizens are contained by ANY, and I mean ANY means necessary. If we're in for a surprise when we get to the castle, the crossbows will continue to fire, to prevent the potential loss of some of our men. In short, Charming sir, we want to overwhelm them with crossbows, and by doing this, despite the difference in numbers, we'll emerge as the victorious" he said, taking his finger off of the paper.

Prince Charming felt a tingle of excitement in his heart. This plan could genuinely work. By using an excessive amount of crossbows, Duloc is sure to be overwhelmed by that, and then the numbers game will mean little to nothing. He gave the knight a nod. After various drafts, this was the plan that they were going to stick to for the invasion.

"I do believe we have a workable plan in place, after all..." he said, mischievously.

Suddenly, a noticeable, yet distinguishable figure had emerged. He looked like he was sneaking out of somewhere, but his clothing spoke importance; a black, shiny, yet leotard-looking set of clothes had made him look like he was up in the ranks of wherever he came from. The knights around the camp all aimed their crossbows at him as the ones holding swords had rapidly caught his hands. They began aggressively dragging him, but he seemed completely neutral, and far from intimidated. Charming stooped over to the commotion as his knights were rapidly throwing this strange individual to the left and right. He genuinely wasn't in the mood, but what he was wondering at the moment was, why would ANYBODY walk into the camp when it's pretty clear that anybody considered a prisoner faces an inevitable execution?

"You're pretty despicable, aren't you?" Charming said, crossing his arms together.

"Could you just...let me go for a minute, sir? we need to discuss a drastic plan-"

"Why would I discuss my plan with a stranger? an obnoxious one, more or less? get him out of my sight..."

"I'm actually the Minister for Duloc's armoury, sir..."

"Hold on, boys...you're what?"

"You heard me. I'm the Minister for Duloc's armoury. I understand that you were looking to have a summit with my President, right?"

"Precisely on point. What're you getting at? I've got-"

"Would you happen to have known an individual known as Lord Farquaad?" the minister interrupted.

"No, why would I?"

"Because, based on what my so-called President has said to me, you're all looking to create a style of government similar to that of Farquaad?"

What President Baystood never realised was that there were a group of people in Duloc who were secretly Farquaad apologists and sympathisers. The Armoury Minister was one of them, and he hadn't told a single person, especially after being appointed one of the most powerful positions in Duloc.

The tingle of excitement furthered inside Prince Charming: is this...powerful Duloc figure offering to assist in the intention to invade Duloc?

"You heard me when I was there. We're looking to build up a regime, a regime which will emphasise on me getting my revenge for what that vile, disgusting orge has done to my life..."

"Oh well, let me cut to the chase. I...I frankly, despise Baystood, and I despise the new system they've put in place in Duloc. I personally feel as if a system where the people can choose a leader undermines just that...the importance of the position of leader, and Farquaad was far more superior and serious than Baystood has been...so hey, let me strike a proposal. You want to turn Duloc back into what it was? I lead their knights, I'll make sure that NONE of them attack yours when you come here..."

Prince Charming instantly nodded; why would he turn down this offer of a lifetime?

"I'll accept that with open arms..." he said.

"Duloc in my opinion has become a laughing stock, and I also get the feeling that Baystood is intentionally trying to bring it down...so yes, for the good of the citizens and Duloc's reputation, I'll help you out in taking over...but this is a top-secret deal that must NOT be exposed, otherwise, the entire plan will be busted..."

"Oh, time is of the essence, by all means necessary, I will most definitely ensure this is kept a secret..." Charming said, smiling somewhat devilishly. "You know another area that you can help me out in, huh? whatever this Farquaad guy strived for, I'm clearly similar to him in your eyes, huh? I want you to take the President into an area where NOBODY can see you...and when you have the opportunity, kill him...but not tonight, we've got the invasion planned for tomorrow night, so do it before the sun sets, at least, got it?"

"Mister Charming, consider it done...if it means I have to put an end to the source of our embarrassment, to get back what made Duloc strive... then so be it..." the minister said, holding out his hand to shake Charming's one.

Prince Charming rapidly held onto the hand tightly out of the excitement of the opportunity he's just been given.

"You know, when I first saw you guys when you arrived in that carriage, I could see that you wanted to turn Duloc back into what it once was, right?"

"Oh, there's no denying that...GUARDS, form a single file line in front of myself and our nearly acquired friend here..."

The knights, clamping their steel armour against their legs as they marched, looked excited too, because now, the prospect of a successful invasion had suddenly became a reality in their minds. They all watched Charming as he patted the shoulder of the Armoury Minister.

"Prepare yourselves for a short struggle...we'll be closer to power than you'd have ever imagined..."

But could Charming actually be trusted? the armoury minister himself simply thought Farquaad was a much more credible, and less-dangerous leader in that he didn't decrease Duloc's reputation, as well as various other things. He thought of Baystood as a traitor to the Duloc nation for being one to accept the current system that was implemented. Ever since he was appointed this role, he's acted all normal and as if he agrees, whilst internally, he's had these thoughts for ages. He didn't want to do anything that was suspicious. It was primarily the reason why he opted for the position of armoury minister in the first place; to dispose of the President's time to give Duloc back the type of leadership it, in his mind, truly needs to stick to it's name. He's been busting to make this happen, and now, with him seeing Charming's rising regime as an opportunity to do that, he's willing to attack the President to help them out, finally unleashing his mindset.

"Alright, sun set, I'll do what I have to do. I'll let all the knights know not to attack, as everything's been 'safely secured'. I should probably head back before they suspect that I'm up to something.."

"Good idea, and hey, if you do this, I'll consider offering you a position in my regime?"

"Precisely what I want from this. Have a good, solid night, and good luck when you make Duloc great again, it's about time we reverted back to what we initially started off as..."

"Oh trust me, it'll be to DIE for...have a good night. Knights, he's free to go..." Charming declared, to everyone in the camp.

As the Minister walked off, all the knights looked at Charming with a collection of surprised faces.

"Well well, it's not that often you get the opportunity THAT easily. Knights, prepare yourselves for a wrath of war...AYE!"

"AAAYYYYYYEEEEEEEEE!" they collectively chanted, with Charming smirking in the midst of it upon the realisation that he's actually legitimately going to accomplish his goal, and when this is done, he can finally turn to the goal that he's wanted to finish since he crawled out of that fallen tower; kill Shrek.


	29. Returning to Far-Far away

**CHAPTER 29: Returning to Far-Far away**

The last time Shrek was at Far-Far away, Artie had just been crowned king of the kingdom, so it was intriguing to see how he was getting on. The little place they went to for Farkle's birthday, the time in which Shrek had stormed out of it eventually, was just some random area in the woods near the actual kingdom of Far-Far away itself, where it, for some reason, had the Far-Far away sign on another hill nearby. It was a truly weird way of constructing things. It was maybe done to make it clear that Far-Far away was nearby? nothing could be concluded. Dragon had been flying throughout the entire night, and as they got closer, the vibrant colours of the morning were approaching. It was easily the case that Dragon made the trip to Far-Far away much quicker than just taking a carriage, and Shrek learnt that the hard way when he first traveled there to meet Fiona's parents at the time.

As Fiona woke up from the careful nap she had whilst on Dragon, she raised her entire self up to check ahead; the sun was glowing it's vibrant orange into her eyes as the sign of Far-Far away was emerging in the distance. The gigantic, thin palm-like trees amongst that famous grey-shaded path of concrete, surrounded by huge collections of buildings with red roofs and some with cone-built shapes, had also started to emerge within Fiona's eyes. The biggest, and most vital part of the entire kingdom was emerging, too; the castle, and as the warmth of the morning air flew past all their bodies on Dragon, the mood suddenly became all bright and exciting, in contrast to the depressing tone back at Duloc.

"Hunny, look over there..." Fiona said, nudging Shrek to wake up slowly.

Fergus, Farkle and Felicia were tightly held into place by Shrek and Fiona throughout the flight. When Shrek woke up, he held onto his big green head, forgetting where he was for a moment, before recalling where they were heading. As his eyes opened up to the rising sun and the somewhat-pink clouds in the distance beyond the hills of forests, he suddenly felt like he was taken back in time; to the time he first arrived here, because in all honesty, Far-Far away, from this perspective, looked exactly like it was when Shrek had left. You wouldn't believe for a second that this kingdom was where Charming initially got all of his supporters to start the process of a deadly regime.

Shrek was taken aback.

"I-it's just the same..." Shrek said, smiling.

"It looks..as perfect as it was before..." Fiona added.

"How do you think Artie's got on, Fiona?"

"He was capable before, and I'm sure he's been capable now. Just look at how..peaceful and warm it is..."

They were intent on catching up with Artie, but little does Shrek and the rest know, back at Duloc, Charming's about to scoop up perhaps his biggest grand scheme of all time in the form of getting the help from one of it's ministers to invade the place. Charming was in the right place at the right time, and when his invasion kicks off tonight, nobody will be able to stop him. Shrek moved backwards a bit to check on Felicia; despite the fact that she's now safe, her being captured by Charming had led to the orge becoming even more protective over her than before; he had nightmares of what might have became of her had they not got Duloc to rescue her from him in time.

"She's out cold like I've never seen..." he said to himself, referring to Felicia being fast asleep amongst her brothers.

"Uh, Shrek, how long are we staying here for again?" Fiona asked, catching Shrek's attention from Felicia.

Shrek couldn't decide; the only downfall of coming here is that now, they won't be able to know if Charming's backed off or if he's actually got his regime in place, making the area near the swamp a dangerous place to be surrounded by should that be the case.

"I-I don't know, Fiona...we'll just have to wait it out for as long as we feel it should be..."

Fiona sighed at the uncertainty as she took in the warm air passing by from being on Dragon's flying body.

Within the castle courtyard, packed a gigantic collection of citizens, in their hundreds. Contrast to Duloc, the clothing of these citizens gave a vibe of energy with the combination of purple, lime, red, dark red, blue, all in different lightening. Their berets were the same. The courtyard's red carpet path was still there, as always, starting from the posh, eye-attracting fountain as the water steadily sprinkles off of the top to the sides. The fountain itself is where the carriages usually stop. The citizens all remained off of the red carpet, in which it had led to the castle door itself, in which the newly-crowned King Artie resides obviously. The morning and the warmth added to the vibe, and you wouldn't think that in the far distance, a deadly regime was emerging; Far-Far away was like a paradise to the point that it'd kill off any negative thoughts. Within the corners of the courtyard rested a couple of colourful marquees; one with golden stripes and a purple background, and one with a green background and white stripes. These citizens were gathered here for a specific reason; Artie's going to make a morning announcement to his people.

It took some time, but all of the skeptical thoughts about Artie's ability to rule over a kingdom were put to rest. He had won over the citizens, and ever since he took the throne, he's matured significantly, but not to the point that he's got a partner. He used to look like the punch bag out of a group of friends, and just generally the nerd, but that was no longer the case. His beard was longer than Charming's beard, and his clothing was similar to that of what he wore when he first met Shrek, only this time, he had a dark red cape with golden stripes, and he had a leotard-looking costume in which the legs had golden stripes, and the chest part looked all thick and comfortable with some stripes too. His golden crown gave him a vibe of importance, and he just generally has developed into the persona needed to rule a kingdom.

Two guys, wearing dark red berets and formal clothing had began playing their trumpets, as a signal that the king himself was about to come out of the castle. The entire courtyard fell silent, in anticipation for their king's arrival. The gigantic structure of the castle, with its glass-pane windows situated amongst the front with bushy edges, was a sight to behold; you couldn't look at it without wondering just how scary it'd be to be at the top of it, especially the flag pole. At the conclusion of the trumpet tune, the castle door opened, and Artie walked out with dignity; the courtyard suddenly filled up within the air of cheers and claps. Artie waved at all of his people, masking a smile that clearly indicated that he's enjoying being king. He stood right at the step of the door, waiting for all of his people to silence themselves.

"Well well, good morning Far-Far away..." Artie exclaimed, clapping his hands together as they were grasped upon each other. "I hope you're all having a marvellous morning, and will have a good day...I just wanted to announce a couple of things, and hey, I know I talk too much as it is, so let's just cut it short, shall we?" he laughed, generating some back from the crowd.

"Firstly, I'm happy to announce that starting from today, the entire kingdom will begin it's makeover, and secondly, we can all be proud of the fact that we have came this far...and so, tonight, I'm gonna throw a courtyard party...bring your friends...bring your family, whoever, because we need to celebrate, don't we?"

The crowd roared with cheers, admiring their king, in which he waved and smiled at them. He walked down the steps from the castle door to walk on the red carpet, to shake hands with the citizens. As he shook their hands, something thunderous could be heard in the air, as if a tornado was emerging. The gust of wind had eventually became so loud that everyone eventually turned to the direction of the fountain, looking upwards; it shocked their eyes, and initially, they were panicked, but for some reason, they recognised that pink, decreasing dragon. As she flapped her large wings to emit waves of wind, with the force knocking down some of the berets of the citizens to the ground, some of them began screaming and running, and this initially caught Artie by surprise. He stood there, in the middle of the red carpet, just watching Dragon descend, but then, the second he noticed that greyness of Donkey, his entire face gasped; is it...is it Shrek?

Dragon finally landed, and she shook her head sideways whilst huffing out of her nostrils. Donkey looked at the crowd, before noticing Artie. They all suddenly...began clapping for them? do they remember what she did to Charming that night, or something? either way, the cheers and the claps were encouraging, and they were loud enough to wake up Felicia, Fergus and Farkle. The entire group slowly climbed off of Dragon, with Donkey staying on her neck to give her a kiss. Dragon raised her head up to Donkey.

"Thanks baby, you need a break one day!" he said, smiling with her before sliding down onto the ground floor.

Artie stood there, adjusting his cape, unsure as to how to react to seeing Shrek after all this time; the one orge who sacrificed himself to Charming to save him, and ultimately, the orge who got him to become king in the first place. When Shrek, Fiona, Pinocchio, Three Little Pigs, Puss, and Lillian and the rest slid to the ground, they all looked at the crowd, before noticing Artie.

"S-Shrek?" Artie struggled, with a smile emerging in the corners of his mouth; he couldn't believe that Shrek's returned.

Shrek returned the same amount of shock; Artie had the same old innocent voice...but time has definitely made him change, appearance-wise.

"A-Arthur?" Shrek said.

"No, no, hold on guys, they're friends...it's okay..." Artie said, to some knights emerging from the castle, in which they instantly backed off at Artie's declaration.

Shrek and the group walked right onto the red carpet towards Artie, in the middle of the crowd.

"O-oh my god, it is you Shrek...h-how've you been? how...oh my, you've got children now?" Artie said, lost for words out of the happiness.

"Yeah, uh, they're quite a burden, Arthur...but hey, Mr Pendragon, you've certainly grown haven't you? look at you, I didn't doubt you for a second...how's it been?" Shrek asked.

"Uh, hold on you guys, we can talk inside, uh, to everyone here, I'm just uh..gonna prepare for tonight whilst I catch up with these friends of mine here..." Artie said, with the crowd understanding what he wanted; for them to leave the courtyard for the preparations.

"Follow me, Shrek..." Artie said, with Shrek looking at Artie's cape before turning back to Fiona and Lillian.

"Kid's grown up a ton, hasn't he?"

"Oh my, he's...he's just settled in perfectly, hasn't he, Fiona?" Lillian said.

"I can't lie Shrek, he's definitely became that material..."

"I just wonderrr if he's got some fresh milk in stoock..."

"Pipe down cat, we've all heard enough of ya little whine whine whine.." Donkey exclaimed to Puss.

"Yas, I have!" one of the pigs said.

"Yas, me too!"

"Yas, so have I!"

Puss simply sighed at everyone taking sides against him. Pinocchio remained silent, for one reason; being back here had made him recall the time in which he was placed into a box as a string puppet under Charming's coup at the time, in which it only emphasised to him that he's not a real boy, and never will be.

About ten minutes later, Shrek and the group were sitting in the royal dining room alongside the long table, in which it was sparkling gold and redness. It was beautiful. Artie had sat on the main chair, as knights were scattered around the room, situated like statues; they were royal knights, guarding the royal family at any given time and place. Felicia remained on Shrek's lap as Fergus and Farkle played together. Dragon was simply waiting outside with the dronkeys.

"So uh...wow Shrek, I didn't know you had kids...what's happened to you since we last saw each other?"

"Well, my my, Arthur...you've certainly grown accustomed to this lifestyle, haven't you?" Lillian asked, delighted at seeing her nephew seemingly settled in as king.

"It was a rough start...I needed assistance everywhere, I uh...haha...but you know, I ran into a few problems after you all left...Charming definitely didn't leave without a fight, that's for sure..."

"Artie, I wanted to talk to you about him...wait...what do you mean, leave without a fight?" Shrek asked, holding Felicia in her hyperactive state firmly on his lap.

"Well he uh...when that Dragon knocked down that tower onto him...you all left the next day, but he survived it...he began writing books that promoted hatred against me...he was promoting division...and I just...I could sense something was going on. He was vindictive, and he wanted to...I guess, build up his own base or something, so he started doing rallies across the kingdom, promoting me getting taken off as king, and in the end...some of the citizens here actually ended up supporting him...they stole stuff...they broke into shops...but I just had to get him out, so in the end...I did...go on Shrek, what did you want to say about him?"

"S-Shall I, hunny?"

"It's okay, Fiona, I'll tell him..." Shrek said to Fiona, with Lillian looking at Arthur in the midst of that just now.

"All of this time, Artie, he's had a base next to our swamp, and we came across two good guys...oh man, Twart and Blay...god help them, but yeah, anyways, they lived in a village near Charming's base, and according to them, he invaded it and kidnapped every single person there...what I've been told is that he's wanting to build up some sort of...I don't know...a place where he has all the power?"

"Oh uh, a dictatorship?" Artie interrupted.

"Got it, that. So then there's another burden on my case in Rumpelstiltskin...between the last time I saw you and now, Artie, I was almost banished from existence...Rumpelstiltskin nearly ended me, but in the end, I stopped him, and I've now learnt to appreciate what I've got...so then he escapes the cage, he's been captured by Charming, and he went on to kidnap Felicia here...to lead her to Charming, and it was a good thing that we saved her when we did, thanks to Duloc...he could've killed her, and Rumpelstiltskin, as far as I'm concerned, can stay with him..."

"Now now, Shrek, didn't you say you were having second thoughts?"

"I tried, Lillian, I just couldn't..."

"My god, Shrek...that all sounds...so...so overwhelming? so Charming's actually close to doing what he wanted to do?"

"Correct. The last time I saw him was at Duloc, a kingdom we went to to save Felicia here...my sweetheart is safe now though, that's for sure, and Artie, that was why we came here...we can't be in such a dangerous area with Charming, somehow gaining more and more power..."

"Well Shrek, I've never heard of Duloc before, but I'll say this; stay here for as long as you want, okay? you sound like you've gone through too much...and hey, if there's anybody who should give back to you, it's me, for you saving me initially and allowing me to become king..."

"Thanks, Arthur.." Shrek said, smiling.

"Don't mention it. I'm also hosting a celebration in the courtyard tonight, do you wanna come?"

"Oh why not, Shrek? it'll be an oldschool experience?" Lillian said.

"Well, I suppose we can go then..."

Artie nodded in approval. Things may seem happy and calm at Far-Far away for Shrek and the rest, but what they don't know is that Duloc is actually in a much more dangerous situation than it was yesterday, and a Duloc governed by a dictatorship, reverting to it's old roots, under Charming especially, could pose a dangerous threat to Far-Far away, even though they're far apart from each other. How will anybody stop Charming at this point?


	30. Post collapse

**CHAPTER 30: Post collapse**

When Rumpelstiltskin collapsed last night after he had escaped the deadly grasp of Prince Charming, he was carried into Duloc by a couple of the knights, and since then, he had no idea where he was. His eyes felt all fuzzy and funny, and when he opened them, all he could see was a brown roof, where he was resting on a bench. He sat up, with his hand instantly on his head, before noticing somebody standing behind a table wearing white and blue clothing. Rumpelstiltskin looked around the room before realising that he was genuinely inside a building of Duloc itself; the gigantic glass panes in front had rows of flowers outside, all of them pink, and that at least made Rumpelstiltskin feel less depressed.

"W-Where am I?" the deal maker struggled, with the guy behind the table looking up towards him.

"Are you lost? do you know where your parents are? those knights saw you collapse there last night, and I offered to keep you safe until you return to your parents.." he said.

"P-Parents? I'm not a child?!"

"Well I mean, your voice might be evidence, but you certainly uh...you hold the height to be a child. Maybe you just hit-"

"No, woah..ouch...my head feels like it was chained up and pressured against...o-oh no.." he said, sitting up fully before looking out of the window.

He recalled the horrific chase he went through last night, from escaping the wrath of Prince Charming. He was paranoid upon remembering that, and as a result, he scrambled his eyes across the windows, only to see the occasional horse carriage being dragged in the midst of the regular Duloc citizens across the concrete path. He was rapidly checking just in case Prince Charming was around, or any of his knights. It looked like he was safe, for now anyways. When he looked back around to the guy who clearly runs this building, he held a plate with freshly buttered bread on it; he held it out to Rumpelstiltskin.

"Here you go, I figured that you'd need something to fill yourself up?"

"NO! I don't want your disgusti-" Rumpelstiltskin stopped himself, for a moment, to grasp about something.

His experience thus far, having nearly died from Charming after barely escaping last night, as well as a stroke of guilt from doing what he did to Felicia, alongside the general harsh suffering he's gone through under Charming, has led him into seeing the light. It's helped him to diverge away from the negative tactics he's usually grown accustomed to doing, with the desire to use negative tactics coming from his time as Shrek's most dangerous, merciless enemy with the alternative universe. Yet, as he recalls, he's done some very drastic things as far as he's concerned; saving Felicia technically, standing up to Charming, and showing some remorse for Felicia and maybe even Shrek, and much to his surprise, being positive and appreciating the good will of people, rather than using them to utilise cruelness, felt much much better. So it begged the question to him; why doesn't he just shut up, try and continue to change, and appreciate what this guy right now is doing?

On that basis, Rumpelstiltskin silenced himself from talking what he was about to say, and slowly took the plate. He gave a cheesy smile to the guy with a nod. The guy had smiled back, before walking back towards the table.

"It's not that often I get visitors, so this is a good feeling for me. The place is feeling apprehensive for some reason, so that might be why..."

"Oh yeah?" Rumpel said, munching on the bread slowly.

"Yep. I usually make a decent amount of shillings, but as of late, I'm lacking. I don't know. But hey, haha, enough about me, more about you. Why did you collapse last night? you looked pretty out of breath when those knights took you here?"

You know what? this guy wasn't as obnoxious as Rumpel thought. It was one of the first times where he was getting engaged in a genuine conversation, thus giving him a desire to continue.

"I was under the capture of somebody...I...I messed up, completely, I got everything wrong, but now, all I wanna do is just change...it's opened my eyes, I just...I can't..."

"Well hey, the way I see it, if you've had a bad past, you can either run from it, or you can learn from it...we're all humans, at the end of the day?"

Rumpelstiltskin looked up to him with cheery eyes; that point genuinely sounded true. All he wanted to do now was to run from his past, and learn from it, by undertaking a new personality, and getting rid of his greedy tactics. His near-death experience with Prince Charming had made him open his eyes.

"It'll be hard...but thank you...if only I had Fifi here though...it'd make it easier..." he said, with the guy behind the table smiling at him, despite not having a clue on who Fifi was.

Rumpelstiltskin still thought that Shrek was here in Duloc, even though that was far from the case. Although it'll probably be awkward given the fact that the two of them were at one time, arch enemies in that alternative universe, especially since Rumpelstiltskin had nearly ended Shrek's existence, he was determined in making it up with the orge regardless. The question for Rumpelstiltskin at this point was whether or not Shrek was willing to open up and accept the apology. If not, then at least the tiny deal maker can say he's felt remorse for his past actions, and that he's apologised for said actions.

**IN THE GOVERNING CASTLE OF DULOC**

"And so, record levels of progress have been made, in which we're now seeing more people making a living, and ultimately, Mister President, more people building up a nest for their families so they can be comfortable, wealth-wise..." the economic minister said.

The President of Duloc, Baystood, was in his regular early morning meeting with his cabinet ministers, that he has as apart of his duties. Of course, though, he wasn't oblivious to the fact that the Armoury Minister wasn't here for some time last night. He nodded with approval at the report.

"Marvellous, just marvellous. So effectively, our system is working, it's putting more of our citizens in work, and now, we're seeing our shillings being distributed more along the nation as apart of the increase in jobs?"

"Correct, Mister President..."

"Fantastic...well then, I guess, on a positive basis from that report, you're all dismissed, except for the Armoury Minister.." Baystood said, with the other ministers getting up from their seats.

"Be on the lookout, we haven't received any other form of contact from that Charming guy yet, so we need to potentially prepare ourselves, alright?" he added.

"Got it, again.." The Outside Affairs Minister said, with the rest nodding.

As they left the meeting room slowly, the Armoury Minister was looking at Baystood as if he was studying an object; he was rubbing his chin ever so slowly and formally with his fingers, and he occasionally moved his head to the side. President Baystood wriggled his fingers towards his face at the direction of the Armoury Minister, prompting him to sit down on the seat closer to the President himself. As the minister did this, he didn't take his eyes off of the President's own; they remained aimed at them.

"Now then, you took a little stroll from the territory of our nation, no?"

The Armoury Minister scratched his neck. He wasn't that good at excuses, but given the atmosphere regarding Charming, he could make it sound realistic by claiming that he went to negotiate with Charming to get a peace process.

"Aye, Mister President...but, there was a good, viable reason for-"

"Whatever reason you may have, you totally performed a brief act of mutiny by doing that without my consent. We're running what is basically a nation that's been given a reset from the catastrophic past of a certain somebody, and you know who I'm on about. You understand what the point is, though? we're running a nation, you can't be wandering off, taking advantage of the powers you have, do you understand? especially at a time in which we have to be alert in case of an act of war from the person we saw stroll into our nation from a carriage yesterday?"

"Well, that's just it, Mister President. I'm sorry for not telling you, but I actually got Prince Charming to abolish his plans entirely. I'm a good briber, so I made the case to him that by threatening us, he's only giving himself a death-wish. He's since evacuated, far from anywhere near us. Mister President, you've got my word for it; cross my heart, hope to DIE, I will not perform any act of mutiny on your behalf again..."

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear. Have you actually done what you claimed, though, whilst you were away?"

"Absolutely, which is why I think we should stop trying to scaremonger our citizens any longer. I want us to pull our extra defence forces away from our entrance. Do we really need the extra defence, or any knights there at all? I think they'd rather be with their families, too, Mister President..."

"Well, do you really think so? for some reason, and I have no idea why, you seem to be true to your words at the moment...we'll trial it for this week. Very well..."

"Oh Mister President, you've made a wise decision. In fact, you've very well ensured the future of the PND..." he said, standing up exactly at the moment as Baystood did.

They shook hands. No, The Armoury Minister didn't forget about the pledge Charming made. He said to go for the strike when he's 1. alone with Baystood, and 2. closer to midnight, in which it was morning at the moment.

**CHARMING'S KNIGHTS ARE DRAGGING CATAPULTS AROUND**

Luckily for Charming, when he was gathering up supporters from Far-Far away shortly after that tower collapsed over his body from a while ago, some of them had amazing crafting and building skills. So it wasn't any surprise when, on the morning of the invasion later on, he's got catapults already. Made from wood and string, they can pelt rocks of a big size into any targeted vicinity. Prince Charming, however, was once again talking with his top knights for the plan. He was situated near the carriage with his sword in his hand. He had a sticker of Fairy Godmother on his leotard chest.

"So, King Charming, should we take-"

"Should? I'm sorry, could you just rephrase that in the way that you KNOW will happen?" Charming demanded.

"Oh, uh, sorry sir. WHEN we take over, what's the plan from there?" the knight asked.

Of course, his mother was apart of his motive for invading Duloc alongside the Shrek, Rumpelstiltskin and Felicia one, so this was what he wanted to do; when he fully has a grip of power over Duloc, he's going to create a cult of personality like system for Fairy Godmother, and this was Charming's main way of 'impressing' her and 'avenging' her. The citizens won't have a choice, either; they WILL worship Fairy Godmother as a passed god who led to the creation of Duloc, something Charming wants to brainwash into the citizens.

"It's quite simple, really. Public executions aren't something I will avoid, for one. Brief the citizens repeatedly and repeatedly with respecting my mum, and then that way, they'll have no way of underestimating me or my power, or my mother. Should they talk down her or me, they'll be sentenced to a merciless punishment, in which I will happily decide all of the details..."

He was also anti-fairy tale creature, something he's kept to ever since they betrayed him back at Far-Far away. If a single one is present in Duloc, they'll instantly be sentenced to death, just like anybody who talks down his leadership or his mother. No mercy was to be spared. Nobody will be exceptional; it's all apart of his plan to create a place where it'll be closed off to the outside, and completely impossible for anybody on the inside to escape, thereby keeping a tight grip of power over the people and the nation itself. Charming had a tingle of excitement at all of these things he'll be able to obtain later on tonight after the sun goes down.

"And don't you worry...that Armoury Minister has set us in a strong position...it's only a matter of training, drilling, and ensuring that NOBODY stops me...or my mother...from doing what we should have done a long long time ago...ready up the catapults, we're going to have a test run..."

"You've got it, dear leader Charming..." the knight said, walking off into the camp to get the catapult from the other knights.

It was all coming into fruition, and nobody could stop him; absolutely nobody.


	31. Shrek and Fiona's stroll

**CHAPTER 31: Shrek and Fiona's stroll**

It was the case that at one time, Arthur had suspended anymore orges coming to the kingdom, but he simply couldn't refuse Shrek's return when he saw him for the first time in ages. Even though he's king, he still wasn't as tough in certain areas as he'd hoped. With the news that the kingdom is having a commemoration of some sorts, to celebrate the progress Far-Far away has made, Shrek and the group felt energetic, completely contrasting what it was like whilst they were dealing with Charming back at Duloc and the swamp, with his roaming knights at night, and especially when he had kidnapped Felicia. Whilst Dragon and Donkey went their own way, with Pinocchio and the rest such as the Three Little Pigs exploring the kingdom, Shrek and Fiona also did the same. They wanted to enhance the energetic feelings running through their bodies by catching up with certain aspects of the kingdom.

Shrek carried Felicia whilst Fergus and Farkle were walking with Fiona's hands down the concrete path. As they went along from the courtyard, various wooden stands with bread, and various collections of posh houses with the citizens emerging from them, had all became crystal clear in the eyes of the orges, yet when they walked past these people, some of them gave eyebrow-raised expressions, almost as if they were disgusted that such creatures were in their kingdom. Shrek simply couldn't let Felicia go; ever since she was kidnapped by Charming when they were heading to Duloc, he's grown a protective mindset over her, but he also felt the same for Fergus and Farkle.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" Shrek asked Felicia.

"I'm happy, daddy..." Felicia replied.

"What do you say I take you to the parts of the kingdom that I used to travel around?"

Felicia, Fergus and Farkle all nodded positively at Shrek's proposal. They began walking down the concrete path, as citizens, some in their families, had oddly stared at the orges as they passed, and mixed in within those lot were citizens who simply didn't mind the fact that there were orges in the first place.

"Uh, Shrek?" Fiona said, with Shrek moving closer to Fiona upon hearing his name. "Should we uh...still be concerned about you know who?"

"You know who-ohhh, well look, Fiona, we're safe now, and in a month or two, he'll be gone, and then we'll be able to return to our toadstool covered swamp...it'll be perfect..."

"But he's alive...didn't you want to get him back for what he did to Felicia?"

"I don't want to talk about him at the moment whilst we're trying to up the mood for the kids, Fiona..."

"D-Daddy, mummy? are you talking 'bout c-...Charming?" the recalling of that dreaded name shocked Fiona and Shrek.

"Who?" Fiona said.

"C-Charming...he's a bad man..." Felicia stuttered.

Shrek honestly didn't want to hear the stuff that his own daughter had witnessed on behalf of Prince Charming; the more he'd be told about what Charming did, the more he'd want to smash Charming's face in, if he ever sees him again. But that one bit of curiosity had prompt the orge into wanting to know more from Felicia about what she saw. After all, Charming clearly has a bigger plan in his mind, and kidnapping Felicia was one of them when Rumpelstiltskin had led her there, until it was foiled by Duloc's help.

"H-Hunny.." Shrek said, in which all of the orges had stopped off near a wooden bench situated between two palm trees in the kingdom. "W-What did you see? what did he do?"

Felicia felt pressured, but at the same time, comfortable as she was with her parents and her brothers. For such a young orge, she had a good memory of things.

"W-Well..."

It took her back to the time that Charming had yelled directly at her inside his prisoners dungeon in his old base, where Rumpelstiltskin was present. It also took her back to the sight of a large collection of knights creating and smelting weaponry back at the camp near Duloc. She recalled the time that Charming had slapped the teeth out of Rumpelstiltskin, and just the sheer thought of anything to do with Charming in general had made her flinch. She explained everything she could recall to Shrek and Fiona, and by the time she was finished, Shrek's teeth were gritted out, but it also shocked him to learn that Charming was building up an army of some sorts; what could that possibly be for? Shrek was also shocked to learn that Charming had kept prisoners, mercilessly, within his grasp to eventually kill them. It made him vision Charming as a thuggish coward.

"A-And my friend...my little friend is in danger..."

"Uh, l-listen Felicia, that little guy wasn't your friend, he uh, he..." Shrek stopped himself; he just said before that he wanted to give a bright mood to his kids, and by mentioning Rumpelstiltskin's name, that might decrease the mood in his mind.

Shrek simply doesn't understand that Rumpelstiltskin had genuinely grown a sense of sympathy for Felicia, and he refuses to accept that that was the case.

"But Fiona, can you imagine the damage I'd deliver to Charming? he thinks he's won, doesn't he?"

"Okay okay, on second thought, why don't we just prepare ourselves for Arthur's kingdom celebration tonight, rather than getting worked up over Charming? if anything, Shrek, that army that Felicia mentioned just now is only a group of ten, haha...come on kids, let's go and get ourselves ready..." she said, with all three orge kids following her.

Shrek looked out to the distance, in which he saw a plain, dull forest with thickly covered trees; he was skeptical about just simply leaving his problems in the form of Charming behind; what if he's going to do damage to Duloc? he turned back towards Fiona and quickly caught up with her.

As they walked, a couple of teenagers stopped in front of the orges. Their berets made them look like they were artists.

"Uh, excuse me? should you be here?" one of them asked, in which the other remained firmly put in place.

"We're related to the king, if you hadn't noticed-"

"Oh believe me, it's far from noticeable...you remind me of uh...uh...a walking pile of s-"

"Oh uh, Shrek, shall we just continue onwards? thank you for the time, you guys, haha..."

As they walked past the teenagers, quite uncomfortably, one of them had yelled out to the orges.

"GET OUT OF OUR KINGDOM AND GO BACK TO WHATEVER HOLE YOU CAME FROM! CHARMING WAS RIGHT!"

This caused Shrek to stop and turn around to the teens. Fiona tried to stop Shrek from walking back towards them, but he didn't listen. If there was one thing Shrek hated, it was being judged on by the fact that he was an orge, but to hear quite clearly that these teens know of Prince Charming, indicating that they were perhaps brainwashed into admiring him when he was still here at the time of his rallies, it only made him feel more insulted and angered. As he stopped right in front of the teenagers, dwarfing them in comparison, they were slowly backing up.

"Listen here, why don't you do what's best for you, hey? are you the village idiot? are you busy being the dummy bag for everyone to punch? hahahahaha. Whatever Charming's told you, you've got it all wrong, and to be honest, as an orge, you don't want to push my buttons. Back off, and go back to your miniature little habits or whatever creatures of your kind do..." he said, which had clearly caused an intimidation inside the teenagers.

The second Shrek was walking with his back turned to them, the two of them began running off together.

"I thought Artie said Charming supporters were long gone?"

"I did too, Shrek...but he's clearly made a long-term effect on everyone here..."

"I wouldn't say everyone...but if he's truly that memorable, are we underestimating him? like...this isn't the same Prince Charming who took over Far-Far away for a bit, Fiona...this is somebody who's clearly dropped to the lowest of the low..."

"Hunny, let's just forget it. I know we all have concerns, but the main thing for us to remember is this; Charming's not here, and he'll never be. We're safe, and look, deep down, we're all quite apprehensive about Charming's future actions, whatever they may be, but it's nothing we can't deal with at a future time, okay?"

"I guess so...something tells me that we're in for a bigger surprise than I'm expecting..." Shrek said, not sounding too hopeful about the Charming situation clearing up in a month.

**CHARMING'S CAMP**

By suspending his initial procedure of capturing any 'trespassers', Charming had essentially doubled the amount of knights he's now got. A ton of outsiders around these woods had surprisingly been scattered about, and by recruiting them and promising them the chance of a lifetime to take over their own kingdom, he's increasing his numbers. It didn't concern him that they'll inevitably be inexperienced, but as long as the invasion goes as planned, it won't be a concern for him. A group of twenty knights were in a square shape in the middle of the camp, as the rest were elsewhere, preparing. They were performing various sword swipes and swings in order to up their combat skills should they have to do battle. Some were practicing their usage of crossbows, and some were just genuinely readying themselves up. Prince Charming was, once again, inside his carriage, talking to Fairy Godmother supposedly, in regards to the plan for tonight.

"Hello mummy...your favourite and only son has been working hard...haven't I? I'm going to do whatever I can to ensure that OUR plan doesn't go to ruins...and if it does? well mother, I won't stop there, I'll keep going until I accomplish it. Far too often, I've been so close to power, only to be dragged back down, and especially at this point, I'm not willing to let ANYBODY stop us this time...I just...I just hope I don't have to come to that, because if I do, I'll feel like I've let you down...but mother, it's going to be a fantastic new kingdom of ours. I'll make sure you're praised and looked up to, like a god..that's the least I can do? and even better? they'll have no choice, because mother, this is the best part; if they refuse, I'll simply make them wish they had died an earlier death. This is our resurrection, mummy, and this is my redemption as the vindictive, newly crowned KING Charming of my newly acquired kingdom later on...together, we'll stand over our own, even if it means I have to stand over a pile of bodies to get to it...this is all about you and me, nobody else...and together, we'll become the most respected in the history of our time...love you mummy..."

He opened his eyes, and looked around the carriage.

"I can't let mother down..." he began sighing to himself, before banging his hand against the carriage wall, "I CAN'T!" he subsequently yelled.

"Uh, King Charming? are you okay in there?"

"Oh yes, I'll be out right now..." Charming rapidly said, opening the carriage door; he didn't want anybody to hear his speeches to his mother, so that was why he was sent into a panic briefly.

As he stepped out, swiftly moving his hair to the side, the knight was surrounded by a bunch of others carrying their crossbows; their crossbows were READY.

"Dear Charming, sir, would you like to try one of these out, again?"

"Oh no no, I have other matters to attend to, but be sure to fire those arrows into the nearest tree trunks you can find, alright?"

In total, Charming's number of knights was nearing the 80+ figure, much bigger than the 50+ that he was initially working with. The more, the better, which meant that he had to keep recruiting as many outsiders or homeless folks as possible. He's still going to ensure that about half of the knights will be crossbow knights, whereas the other half will be melee knights. There was something running rampant in his head, though; if this invasion doesn't go to plan, then he'd feel as if he's let down Fairy Godmother, something that'll be sure to send him into a craze. But by being firm, merciless, and having a desire to create piles of bodies to get to his accomplishment, Charming also felt confident in himself. He still can't wait to fully lure Shrek back, and ultimately give Rumpelstiltskin what he deserves.


	32. Rumpelstiltskin's attendance

**CHAPTER 32: Rumpelstiltskin's attendance**

It was one of those rare instances where the President had allowed the citizens to sit within the stadium sections; initially, he thought that it'd be too much of a resemblance to the dreaded dictatorship led by Farquaad, but in this case, the citizens simply needed to use them for what was being held today. A group of young Duloc cheerleaders were going to perform in front of everyone, in which, surprisingly, Rumpelstiltskin was attending it on the actual stadium. Of course, the President was on the ground floor to make the announcement, because he still despised using the stand that Farquaad used; he still wanted to drive Duloc away from the past by any means necessary. The whole purpose of this cheerleaders performance was due to one thing; the death of the threat of Charming, with the Armoury Minister supposedly withdrawing all of the knights from Duloc's defence posts because of that. That itself stuck out like a sore thumb all over Duloc.

Gone were the knights near the entrance, around the town in general, except the odd one or two, and gone were the knights just within the presence of the citizens. This was all, of course, because of the Armoury Minister's command to withdraw in order to not 'waste any resources or time'. President Baystood genuinely believed the word of the Armoury Minister too, and who couldn't blame him? he was one of his ministers, after all. The other ministers haven't batted an eye at the actions of the Armoury Minister himself, so it only made him safer and safer from being exposed as a traitor and a fraud.

President Baystood climbed up to the podium in the middle of the stadium, the same one of Duloc where Shrek had battled those knights, wrestling-style, years ago with Farquaad watching. He was able to echo his voice across to the entirety of the stadium with his loud, firm yelling. Rumpelstiltskin was sat on the left stadium stand, in the front, in which he was surrounded by a bunch of strangers with their dull, medieval clothing dresses and suits.

"Good day, everybody...upon hearing that the PND is no longer under threat, thereby removing all of our knights from their defence posts as a result, allowing them to return peacefully to their loved ones, I figured that we ought to enhance that great feeling of being safe again by a little performance, right?" he said, in which it generated a ton of claps and cheers, with whistling mixed in.

Rumpelstiltskin didn't do anything; he sat there, straight, still feeling down from yesterday's occurrences despite being surrounded by a bunch of cheering folks.

The Armoury Minister was standing near the entrance of Duloc itself, in which he was confronting the last batch of knights that needed to be informed on the newly set out plan on behalf of himself and the President. Just because there's a performance going on inside the stadium, didn't mean that all of the citizens were there; the town was still very packed, which made it normal for the Armoury Minister to not be at the stadium. The other ministers were inside the governing castle, totally unaware of what's about to come.

"Good day, knights..." he said, unable to help looking back to the area beyond the entrance constantly.

"Hey there, sir.." one of them said.

"Myself and the President have discussed what we need to do in regards to defence...you're all granted permission to stand down, and by the way, ensure that you do NOT react to anything unusual that may come in here...we're gonna try to stop scaremongering our citizens by having such a system, alright?"

"Oh uh, really, sir? what about that guy from yesterday?"

"The President knows what he's talking about...it's all under control, okay?"

"I guess, sir.."

"Consider yourselves able to return home, as well...we need our knights to take an extended break, you see..."

"B-but what about the recent?...-"

"Like I said, it's all under our control. You may step down from your posts. Wait a minute...are you trying to tell me that Duloc is too weak of a nation to be defence-free for once?"

"Oh uh, not at all, sir, I was just-"

"Then do as I say, and throw your posts aside until I say that you can resume them..."

The knights had no choice; he's the Minister of all the Duloc knights after all, so they really couldn't say no.

"Aye, sir..." they said.

"Good, and I don't want to see any of you standing here tomorrow, or the day after, or beyond the day after tomorrow, you got it?"

The knights nodded reluctantly, unsure about stepping down.

"I want to make sure that you're not going to remain here. Can you all evacuate back to the stadium?"

"S-sir, you seem awfully...desper-"

"Desperate? far from it, Sarge. But stop talking about me; I was talking to you all here. If you do NOT obey what I am saying, you will suffer the dire consequences...go...NOW!"

"Okay okay, sir...we're stepping down..."

As the knights vanished back into the town, in which some citizens were still wandering in their families, and some simply on their own, the Armoury Minister wanted to keep a low profile. He looked out to the sunflower field from the entrance, and back towards the large collection of buildings. As it looked to be the case that nobody noticed him just out of place, standing near the entrance of Duloc, he began a casual stroll from the territory of Duloc to the direction of the sunflower fields. With Duloc officially free of any defence, the Armoury Minister was intent on briefing Prince Charming with the plans. He kept sneakily looking to the sides to ensure that nobody could see him. When the gap between himself and the sunflowers closed, he made a sprint into the field to avoid the chances of being seen; soon enough, his entire body was amongst the maze that was the big sunflower field, well on his way to Charming's hideout.

"Now then, what we ought to do is get as much of the territory as possible in the shortest span of time?"

"My primary focus is ensuring that that Rumpelstiltskin chap is secured and captured for his execution...we need to prioritise those who think they can just escape us that easily?"

"Quite right, King Charming...I think, however, all of the troops are ready to go...we're just waiting for your orders..."

"I set a specific time in which we'll commence it, but for now, preparations come before anything else, alright?"

"I suppose so, King Charming..."

"Your supposed mindset is correct, knight..." Charming said.

Prince Charming was left alone from the other knights he was just negotiating with, holding onto the same piece of paper that had said he's declared war on the PND. He was wondering, though, if it was really a smart move to do that, because it may just result in Duloc having a head start before the invasion even begins. He scrunched it up, and left it on the grass. Later on, he was going to see what ALL of his knights have came up with, and the states that they're in. As he chuckled in excitement at reigning over his own kingdom, a familiar figure was emerging from the distance; Charming instantly noticed him, and it was none other than the Armoury Minister.

"HE'S CLEAR, KNIGHTS..." Charming yelled, as the Armoury Minister waved at him.

"Greetings, Charming..." he said.

The two of them shook hands, as Charming held his sword by the steel, like a staff, to shake the hand of the Armoury Minister for Duloc.

"Hello, my faithful subject...how's it looking?"

"Charming, everything's been organised...I've cut off every single defence force in every area of the PND...she's all yours to take, whenever you're ready..."

"Fantastic, let me just remind you that you'll be making history alongside me, huh?" Charming said, placing his arm around the back of the Armoury Minister's neck.

"I guess so, but can you actually tell me how you're going to implement a Farquaad governing system once you get there?"

Prince Charming, honestly, had no idea who Lord Farquaad was. He needed to be smart here. He knows that the Armoury Minister is a clueless, yet clearly passionate companion of the Duloc nation. As a result, he didn't want to reveal every single detail to the minister, in case the plan is called off by him.

"Tell me again, this Farquaad fellow...just imagine me as him, there's your answer, you got it?"

"Oh of course, haha, why didn't I think of that?"

"Yes, yes, no need to panic, I have those moments myself..."

The Armoury Minister was surprised at the amount of stuff Charming's got going on here; there were plenty of knights, with some catapults that were clearly crafted by them, as well as crossbows, general weaponry, and swords that looked like they could slash any bit of flesh in an instant. It made him wonder, as he was being guided around by Charming, how they even got to this point.

"Just for the record, Charming, I know what I have to do with the President later on, so I figured that I could perhaps use my experience to...train up your knights should they need it? I want to ensure that this goes to plan whilst I've got the time to be here..."

"My my, our prayers have been answered. We're all experienced here, but I'm sure we could do with an extra helping hand, huh?"

"I will contribute as much as I can..."

"Trust me, this is going to be something special between us. By the end of it, you and I will be ruling over a kingdom in which we'll be totally repeating the period of this Farquaad fellow..."

As the Armoury Minister looked at Charming, he noticed a tiny sticker on his rather posh leotard; there was a fairy on it, and this caught him off guard. He looked around the camp as the sound of metal being smashed against surfaces for smelting purposes could be heard, mixed in with the scent of burning coal.

"I'm uh, I'm sorry, who's that?" he said, pointing to Charming's leotard at the sticker.

"Oh, this is my mother...she's a personal topic-"

"THAT'S your mother? I mean, I don't get to make jokes that often, but that was a pretty funny one, might I add. Did you pray to the skies at night to get that oh so magic sticker?"

Prince Charming's face went from a straight expression to a scary one; that was his mother that was being spoken about, in a comical, satire tone from the Armoury Minister. He began huffing ever so slowly to the point that it wouldn't be noticeable from the minister.

"L-Listen, you do realize-"

"No, I'm just trying to think of one, because honestly? there's no such thing as Fairies, Charming...you know, I like those type of jokes...it's funny really, for a guy like me, who leads a bunch of knights in a big nation, to be this immature...but hahaha...but yeah, I like those type of jokes where they're straight and effortless, good on you, Charming...my god, a fairy is your mother, HAH..."

"I-I think you should probably change your word-" Charming said, quietly yet terrifyingly, much to the unawareness of the Minister for being so caught up with that 'joke'.

"Anyways, jokes aside, shall I get to work with helping out with your knights?"

Prince Charming never legitimately saw this guy as somebody who'd be sticking around beyond the invasion, but that's only been more solidified for what he did just now. Nobody, absolutely NOBODY, jokes about his mother like that; his mother, who DIED because of a filthy orge. He wants to use the foolishness of the minister to get him to utilise his knowledge to the knights, and then that way, he can finish him off when he's no longer needed, hiding the complete anger and rage Charming himself has gained for him at the moment, for claiming that Fairy Godmother is a joke.

"Oh please, go ahead...we're running out of time..." he lowered his tone and volume drastically, "especially you..."

"Righto, just lead the way and we can get started on training them up to take Duloc back to the leadership of Farquaad..." the minister said.

They began walking through the camp.


	33. A charming preparation

**CHAPTER 33: A charming preparation**

Prince Charming had cut the Armoury Minister's visit to his hideout short, mainly because of what he said about Fairy Godmother. The Armoury Minister only went to the hideout in the first place because the President and pretty much everyone else was distracted with the performances in the Duloc stadium, giving him the chance to disappear without the President knowing. He spent as much time as he could at the hideout, training up the knights and giving them advice about taking over a place like Duloc. The Armoury Minister had emphasised to them all that he's cut the defences, so the job will be made a hundred times easier.

"Poor fool, won't know what's hit him..." Prince Charming said, just watching the minister walk off into the distance back to Duloc.

Because everything was going much more smoothly than expected, Charming's actually going to invade Duloc imminently, so he had to start rallying up all of his knights. In other words, it was time for the President to face his ultimate fate, and an inevitable fate, because of him selecting a Farquaad sympathiser to be the Minister of Duloc's knights. Charming and his, what is now 90+ knights from even more recruiting and an abolish of the 'capture, imprisonment' policy he had back at the old base, were gathered up on a field near the sunflowers. Some of his knights were dragging the two catapults, in which they also had giant rocks, and the rest had wielded crossbows. Keep in mind that Charming had initially robbed Far-Far away of it's resources when he was still building up his group of supporters, so it wasn't of any surprise that he had all of this equipment.

All of the knights were split into three groups; the crossbow knights, the melee knights with their swords, and the catapult knights who'll ultimately get the first strike in on Duloc to initiate the entire invasion. They remained firmly in place, as Charming paced up and down slowly with his sword behind his back. He had another new idea in mind for the invasion, which is one that'll link in with the fact that there's going to be absolutely no knights on the defence line of Duloc by the time they get there.

"Alright...this is OUR moment..." he said, looking up with dignity and a desire to cause some harm. "Not only have we got this far, but we've also been granted the opportunity of a lifetime; this is our new kingdom, practically giftwrapped to us. I do NOT expect anything to go wrong with this, which is why I must inform you all on what I want from ALL of you..."

Some of the crossbows were clicking from the knights in that particular group moving them about so much. The sun was shining down directly onto all their armour, making the knights somewhat sweaty, but determined nonetheless.

"Myself and you crossbow wielders will march into the town casually, where we will wait for the signal, in the form of the first strike being charged off from one of those catapults. When the boulder hits, we open our arrows to send a cruel, heartfelt message to those who may or may not be hidden amongst the defence lines; we are HERE to overtake Duloc, and nobody will stop us. By the time we initiate our attack, the President will already be dead, and as you've all seen, the gullible minister has our backs, so this is, in short, going to be a flawless invasion. You crossbow knights and myself will enter the castle, dispose of anybody in it, and then we will officially cement our position as the new governing group of Duloc. Do NOT kill all of the citizens, because we'll need them to govern around...do I make myself clear?"

Everybody yelled to Charming with a tune of approval. Charming placed his two hands behind his back, placing the sword on the ground to remind them all about what the bigger picture will become as a result of this imminent strike.

"My friends...my allies...no betrayers whatsoever...what happens here later will change the view of our movement...nothing can stop this...not even Shrek, if he dares intervene...when they see our power, the whole of Duloc will be crying for us to overtake their government...it's about time we made our case, and it's about time we get the payoff of our creation from the get-go..."

"We will take over all of Duloc, even if it means we must create numerous piles of bodies to achieve that...the road to our future begins here, my friends...we show no mercy to our victims, and merciless traits can buy us many things...a show of strength, and most importantly, power..."

After his brief speech, that had sent motivational waves into all of the knights, Charming's main assessment came in the form of physicality. He wanted to see just what his knights were capable of, for when they march into Duloc soon. They had set the two catapults up, where a couple of the high-ranking knights were carrying some decent-sized boulders that looked like they could smash through a brick building. Charming was standing on the sidelines as they were being prepared. He had his two hands connected together, just watching on with a smile as he could sense success within these weapons.

They eventually got to the wooden windmill building near the sunflower field, the building that all of the knights, and especially Charming, are going to use as their testing site. They wheeled the catapults so their wooden contraptions were facing the building, with the main launching arm having the chance to strike it with a firm, accurate shot. Charming stepped back slightly, as a couple of other knights stood by his side, as they were preparing to place the boulders onto the contraptions. Charming clicked his fingers in the silent atmosphere of all of his regime knights, giving the green light for the boulders to be placed upon the launch arm of both catapults. They loaded the boulders onto the surface of the arms, where instantly, two of the knights had placed their hands onto the wooden levers.

"Do it.." Charming said.

The second their hands pulled back on the levers, the arms launched upwards with ease, carrying the boulders to sling them off into the air to the direction of the windmill building. The boulders had both clashed with the wooden building, where upon the collision, a large thud that had echoed across the air, almost as if a bomb had went off, was heard. Everybody instantly began cheering, as did Charming, where he was lighting up with joy at the success. The boulders hadn't caused a hole or anything to the building, but the only thing that they needed to know was if the catapults were fully functional, and able to strike at the ideal direction. They can.

"WE'VE DONE IT!" Charming yelled, in the midst of a huge cheer from all of the crossbow and melee knights.

As the cheering eased down, the energy in everybody across the area near the camp had risen to levels never seen before. Now, the only thing they have to do is to successfully invade and sabotage Duloc, with the assistance of these very catapults.

"ATTENTION, knights..." Charming said, "with this successful strike in the history books, you all need to be aware of our objectives here...when we initiate our attack, do NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT kill a short, cunning-looking dwarf. He goes by the name of 'Rumpelstiltskin' and for his fate, I've planned a night event where, upon our solidified grasp of power, it'll be his last night ever...and as for the catapults? when myself and the crossbow group march inside, we will wait for the strike to be launched, in which we will be treating that as the signal to begin the invasion. When they fall back, and when we dispose of any governing body inside that castle, we will finally be in control of Duloc..."

There were some unexpected thoughts that Charming had running through his head since Rumpelstiltskin had escaped his grasp. When he was told about what Rumpelstiltskin's capabilities were, from that knight that had led them in the carriage back to the old base as the deal maker was intent on bringing Felicia back, it genuinely dawned upon him that he had somebody who could make another individual disappear from reality with the simple signing of a paper.

It's been stuck in his head since, and it made Charming, albeit secretly, beg the question; is Rumpelstiltskin that much of a threat to his plans to create a regime in the name of Fairy Godmother, and to eventually gain revenge against Shrek and everyone else? clearly, he must think that Rumpelstiltskin poses somewhat of a threat given that he's intent on capturing the deal maker during the invasion to execute him. With everything coming into fruition at a quicker pace than Charming himself had expected, and with everything armed up, alongside a comfortable amount of knights to kick off the regime, he felt that the time was now to attack Duloc.

The citizens had all clapped and cheered for the Duloc cheerleaders. Rumpelstiltskin had clapped for them too, surprisingly. He was somewhat moved by the history of Duloc, that the cheerleaders had referred to in their singing of Duloc's anthem. To think that a place like this, that is holding up well and strong, was once a dictatorship, made him feel somewhat depressed. He's a changed person, so when he was wanting to have a similar type of rule over Far-Far away, especially when he had Shrek trapped in that alternative universe, he was the ruthless, greedy person he was himself accustomed to before experiencing everything involving Prince Charming. The energy, the atmosphere, and the sound of the voices of Duloc's citizens echoing in their cheers across the atmosphere as the cheerleaders had waved, alongside Baystood giving them a standing ovation, had prompt Rumpelstiltskin to cement his change and admire the performance.

President Baystood got up from his podium to stand in the middle of the stadium as the cheerleaders walked back through the entrance whilst they were waving.

"DULOC, THAT IS WHAT WE CALL A MOMENT OF PROUDNESS. THANK YOU FOR WITNESSING WHAT WAS TRULY AN IMPRESSIVE, WELL-COORDINATED PERFORMANCE! THE PND IS ALIVE AND STRONG!"

As the Duloc citizens stood up from their chairs to walk towards the steps leading downwards from the stadium stands, Rumpelstiltskin looked down at the President. As Baystood was clearly within the moment, he began looking around the stadium, waving at his people, before noticing a distinguishable Rumpelstiltskin in the lower stand. The second Rumpelstiltskin noticed the President's eyes from here, he smiled and waved, with the President looking as if he recognises Rumpelstiltskin from somewhere. (He's this way because of the fact that he had seen the deal maker as a prisoner when Charming first came to Duloc whilst Shrek was present).

"I hope you're okay!" Rumpelstiltskin yelled, with the President nodding at Rumpel's positivity after barely hearing him yell it.

"Oh man, why did nobody tell me it felt THIS good to have changed, huh?!" Rumpelstiltskin asked the passing citizens, as they simply looked at him weirdly.

The weird expressions didn't affect Rumpelstiltskin. All that mattered now was that he's truly became a changed person, and he wants to embrace that change with open arms. He got up off his chair, before walking off towards the steps alongside everyone. His dwarf height had made him the center of attention to the citizens. As he walked down, The President was intent on going back to the governing castle, to continue with his daily duties as the most powerful man in Duloc. He's been completely blind on the fact that the Armoury Minister, in the midst of this performance, has stealthily been at Charming's camp once again, and it's probably a good thing that he doesn't know.

In just a short amount of time, the families of Duloc, including kids, youths, and the elderly, are about to be put into a dangerous situation when Charming's forces move in to attack and eventually take over and turn Duloc into a closed off dictatorship, where everybody will HAVE to respect Fairy Godmother as the 'creator of Duloc'. God help them.


	34. Stealth ending

**CHAPTER 34: Stealth ending**

The President was inside his office, on the very top floor of the governing castle, as the Armoury Minister had knocked on. Baystood had to sign tons of letters, sign off some new policies, and implement some new laws he's contemplated over some months at long last. All of that combined means that he's pretty stressed out, but it was nothing that he couldn't handle. The knock wasn't particularly ideal to him.

"Come on in..." he said, trying to sound like his normal self.

The Armoury Minister opened the door, nodding at the President, as Baystood placed his ink, feather pen onto the table to talk with his minister. The door leading into this room had one of those locks from the inside where you'd slide a metal bar-like object into the metal slot. The Armoury Minister's time to fulfill what he promised to Charming was now, so in a subtle manner, he slid the metal all together on the sides of the door to lock it. He coughed as soon as the metal clicked into place, so the President couldn't hear the locks being messed with.

"What do you need?" Baystood asked, remaining put on the table.

"I have to come clean about something, Mister President..."

"You should make it quick. I haven't got that much time on my hands..."

"Okay, sure. Well, do you know when Duloc had that performance just now? I...I have to spill the beans with you, sir. I...I went to Charming's camp again, even though you told me not to go there..."

There was no reluctance secretly in the minister's return to the camp. He was only bringing it up to hopefully anger the President, thereby setting the tone for what he has to do to Baystood imminently.

"I'm sorry?"

"Yeah, I messed up, sir...oh my gosh..."

Baystood cleared his throat before looking up at the Armoury Minister. He wasn't happy in the slightest, based off of his solid stare with disciplining eyes to the Armoury Minister.

"Did you fail to get the gist of what I was talking about in our last conversation?" he asked.

"I just-"

"Sit down..." Baystood interrupted, pointing to the chair opposite his table with files and important paper.

The Armoury Minister walked over to the table and grabbed the chair. He looked back to the door, ensuring that it was fully locked. When he felt confident that it was, he slid the chair out from the desk and slowly descended down onto it. The President had a ton of things to say to him.

"Right, let me just refresh myself...you once again, abused your position and power by wandering away from our territory?"

"Precisely..."

"You know? I'm not particularly in a good mood anyways given what I'm trying to work on, but when one of my own ministers disobey me when I'm in a mood like this, I think further action should be considered, don't you agree?"

"Wholeheartedly..."

"You sound rather determined to get on my bad side...what's the catch here?"

"Oh, far from it, Mister President...I just felt like I should come clean about it after you told me not to go back there...I abused my power, I admit it..."

"Right then. You might think that I'm exaggerating, that I'm perhaps being silly by reacting this way over something that, possibly in the eyes of you, is a minor issue, but do you know what? it's not only dangerous, it's also a violation of what we were elected to present in the first place. You've jeopardised the security of this nation not once, but TWICE now, and what message does it send to our citizens when you're out, wandering wherever you please? we represent a DEMOCRATIC movement. In a democracy, you DON'T abuse your power to get your own way. In fact, I'll go as far to say that what you've done is something that I could imagine my despised predecessor doing, given that dictatorships usually result in the leader using the place in question as a playground..."

"Sir, I even went to talk to Prince Charming too..." The Armoury Minister said, trying to sound upset, when he wants the situation to worsen.

"I'm aware. You've claimed that Duloc is no longer under a threat by him? hence why we've took all of our knights out of their defence posts? so why were you talking to him? enlighten me?"

"Because I was trying to gain some confirmation from him that he's not going to attack us with two catapults or-"

Baystood interrupted rapidly enough to the point that he didn't hear the 'two catapults' part. If he had heard it, the Armoury Minister might have been caught out on the entire lie. Thankfully, he wasn't, even though it didn't matter in the slightest at this point if he was.

"Do you not know what status we consider him as? you didn't need to go back to him. He's an ENEMY to the PND ever since he made those threats to our nation. What kind of sense does it make for you to have gone back to him after you had done that already? what's worse, an ENEMY of ours?"

"Yep. He's an enemy alright. I spoke to him. What's gonna happen to me?"

"What's going to happen to you? it won't be pleasant, let me assure you. I just...I don't know how else I can let this pass...you're willing to disobey me on so many occasions, and I thought you were doing a pretty good job in your position, too..."

"Ohh..."

"I need ministers who'll uphold the formality needed...and after what you've admitted, I don't think I can trust you any longer. The only thing I'll credit you for is that you've recognised that we're no longer under any sort of threat from Charming. You're just...how can I put this...too much of a risk for me..."

"Ohh nooo...what's gonna happen to me?"

"Cut the satire tone. You're clearly not taking this seriously, are you?"

"Oh of course I am, I'm absolutely certain that this is indeed a serious matter..."

"I don't buy it. No minister has done what you've done, to be frank. I didn't want you there in the first place, and I certainly didn't want you there before. I'm announcing a change within our cabinet as a result..."

"Oh my goodness...does that mean...?"

Baystood opened up a drawer under the table, unveiling another pile of papers. On the top rested a paper that consisted of the PND flag and a bunch of writing that had been set out in paragraphs, all bullet pointed as if it was the guide to something. The President wanted to give the Armoury Minister the hint as to what this all means. He placed the paper onto the table, where the Armoury Minister eyed it. He recognised what paper it was, and it was written during the negotiations of Duloc's transformation into the democratic PND. Baystood lifted it up and began reading it out loud.

"You and I both know where this is going, but let me just give you the entire deal as to what I'm talking about..." Baystood said.

 _Under the new agreement during these negotiations for the newly transformed Duloc: The People's Nation of Duloc, all sacked cabinet ministers must withdraw from their positions instantly. The President has the full power to inflict these sackings, under the new democratic position. Beyond this point, the President running the PND must then either do one of two things; open up a poll for the citizens to vote for a new person to take over the position that was given the sack, or he/she must select somebody who he/she feels MEETS the criteria. Should their picks be_ _disapproved of, The President, once again, has the full power to repeat this process with one of the two choices mentioned._

That was what the paper read, in one of the paragraphs. After Baystood read that specific paragraph out, the Armoury Minister felt like the tone was perfect for what he's going to do imminently.

"You're out, my friend..." President Baystood said, directly to the Armoury Minister.

The Armoury Minister just sat there, looking down at the table, pretending to look shocked with a gasp. As he stared down at the table, President Baystood stood up from his chair to stand directly to the opposite of the now sacked Armoury Minister.

"Can't take your arrogance anymore. I thought I could trust you, but your satire and overall mutiny tone has led to me thinking quite the opposite..."

The Armoury Minister simply sent his hand wiping across his mouth as he intentionally gulped for the President to see, to make it look as if he's genuinely upset that he's just been sacked. He looked up at the President.

"Am I..." he said, quite quietly, as Baystood began walking.

"When I get back, I want you out of the castle. I'll be putting the second option into effect instantly once you're out. I'm sorry, I can't have somebody as risky as you sitting around my cabinet table..." Baystood said, walking around the table towards the door.

President Baystood needed to talk to his other minister members to discuss how they were going to deal with the sacking of the Armoury position. The Armoury Minister got up off his chair the second Baystood had his back to him. The President approached his door, before turning back around to look across at the Armoury Minister, just standing up. He nodded at his body movement; standing up clearly shows, in the President's head, that the Armoury Minister acknowledges that he needs to get out of the castle, or else he'll be arrested.

"You know what you have to do..." Baystood said, referring to the Armoury Minister leaving the castle.

"Oh I do..."

The President pulled the door handle, but was surprised to find that it wouldn't open. Because he himself didn't lock the door, it didn't dawn on him just yet that it had been deliberately locked. He once again pulled on the handle, thinking that there was something at the bottom preventing it from fully sliding across. He let go of the handle, and studied the metal locks besides the actual door frame itself; they were firmly slotted into place, much to Baystood's confusion. He didn't lock it, and it wasn't locked when the Armoury Minister entered...or was it?

"Ohh..." Baystood, realizing that it was the case that it's been locked.

He ducked down to remove the metal slots, one by one, from the sides. By each removal, the doors grip was weakening, and it was starting to feel like more of a possibility to open it as a result. There was one question going through his head as he was withdrawing all of these locks from their tight grips; who locked the door in the first place? and why would they even do that? as he thought about it, he came up with one possibility. It just had to be the Armoury Minister. Baystood though, acknowledged that he probably only did it to antagonize. As he stood up straight to grab onto the handle, he felt the presence of somebody sneaking up behind him. It was too late.

His entire vision became black as two arms grasped firmly around his head, dragging him painfully to the floor as he could feel the back of his head planted against the Armoury Minister's torso. His mouth was covered by one of the arms as he tried battling his way out of the hold; it was too late. As the two arms were wrapped tightly around his head, it dawned on him shockingly that he's about to be killed; the Armoury Minister's strength was unable to be matched. He felt like he was drowning underwater. He couldn't yell or fight back. He was like a child being aggressively assaulted and choked out.

**CHARMING'S FORCES ARRIVE NEAR THE BORDER WALLS OF DULOC**

A large, noticeable line of shiny figures, with Charming's carriage leading them, had emerged within the sunflower fields. The two catapults were being wheeled behind the line as the knights were assembled in an order that had distinguished the crossbows from the swords. When they got to an appropriate distance from Duloc's walls, to the point that they wouldn't be seen just yet, the 95+ knights had stopped in their spots as did Charming's carriage, with it being led by a knight handling two horses. He opened the door, and stepped out confidently, carrying a crossbow of his own. He nodded at the crossbow knights, gesturing for them to come along in their gigantic numbers.

"It's time that we show no remorse, once and for all..." Charming said, as the clamping sound of armour could be heard.


	35. No mercy

**CHAPTER 35: No mercy**

Charming led the knights as they started walking upon the concrete floor leading into Duloc itself. The two catapults were lined up to face the border wall, which should allow for them to shoot over the walls with ease. As Charming held onto his crossbow, guiding the other knights inside, not a single Duloc knight was seen. The defence was truly cut off, yet Charming didn't intend on showing any gratitude to the Armoury Minister when they get to the castle. They moved in, to an unsuspecting town of walking citizens, with some with their families, some with their brothers or sisters, and some with friends. They thought nothing of Charming and his knights because they appeared, in the minds of the citizens, as Duloc's own knights.

They stopped right at the opening between Duloc itself and the outside entrance. Charming's 50+ crossbow knights were waiting for their leader to move further inwards. After a minute studying the structure, Charming walked forwards, crossbow in hand, with his knights. They entered into a busy town as it was occupied by tons and tons of walking feet, and in the case of the children, running feet. Charming and his knights had stopped as soon as their entirety got inside the actual territory of Duloc itself. All the citizens were cheerful, getting on with their daily lives as they attend to their jobs. All Charming had to do now was wait for the signal.

"Remember...no mercy..." Charming whispered to the group of knights, in which the front had all nodded.

The blue and white building town was completely oblivious, giving Charming and his knights a perfect headstart.

"Alright, they're in. You got the catapults ready?" the knight standing besides the two catapults said, to the ones holding the levers.

"Aye.."

"Let em off..."

The two knights pulled back on the wooden levers, launching the catapult arms firmly into the air, in which the boulders were sent flying into the air like a cannonball. They managed to successfully, yet BARELY, fly over the border walls of Duloc. Once they hit the ground inside, Charming and his knights will finally commence their attack and invasion.

The citizens all looked up at what appeared to be two grey, boulder-looking objects hurdling towards the ground. They ran out of the way briefly, just avoiding the dangerous clash between the boulders and the ground itself. Once the boulders landed, the citizens looked shocked, but their shock only increased when they saw the large group of knights pulling out crossbows, as was Charming, (not that they knew who he was), and aiming them specifically at them. A child in a family had cried out of the shock of the banging sound of the boulders clashing, prompting the father to pick him up, but he soon realized that his family was in imminent danger. The citizens backed up slowly from the knights as their crossbows were gripped on firmly, and by the triggers. It was time to attack.

Charming unleashed his arrows, spraying them all across the citizens evenly, followed by all of the knights behind him doing the same. All the citizens began screaming as they started stumbling and sliding in their running. The kids had all cried as some of their parents were hit in the arms by some of the spiky arrows.

"OH MY GOD! MUMMY!"

"AHHHHHHH!"

They continued firing their crossbows out to the innocent people, not hesitating a single bit. As Charming began smiling at the sight of the citizens being impaled and as a result, collapsing, he realized that ALL of the citizens, out of their pure fight or flight senses, had ran off and cleared this area almost instantly. He gestured for the knights to move forwards into Duloc. As screaming was the only sound that could be heard amongst the town due to this massacre, the melee knights finally moved in upon the citizens running away. Some of the bodies of the citizens were on the ground in front of them after being hit by the arrows, some of which were family members of kids.

Some of the citizens tried dragging one of their collapsed relatives across, away from the knights, but Charming wouldn't let that happen in the slightest, when he's wanting to send a clear, strong message. As he and his knights slowly walked further into Duloc, Charming pointed his crossbow at the guy trying to drag his collapsed relative across, and fired it right into his arm, causing him to yell out and cry in pain before falling to the ground.

"Let's move..." Charming said, with the melee knights charging faster into Duloc, as they were the ones who were going to break into these blue and white buildings to deal with the other innocent citizens.

They moved further in, as the buildings besides the knights and Charming were suddenly evacuated by panicking citizens. The knights had once again fired their crossbows in their direction as the entire mood felt like that of a deadly apocalypse. Some of their arrows missed, but some of the knights had successfully impaled one of the running citizens. They continued moving forwards, as two kids and a woman were running away whilst crying all at the same time from the simple fear of being killed by whoever this ruthless, dangerous attacker was. The melee knights slammed the windows with their metal boots, prompting some of the shop workers inside to attack, but they were simply helpless. The knights tackled them down, and started slamming them against the walls and anything of a hard structure inside.

"Load up your crossbows - we're looking for Rumpelstiltskin, remember..." Charming said, eyeing up the governing castle, and the tunnel entrance to the stadium.

Prince Charming was sticking to his word when he said no mercy - he couldn't help but smile at the destruction he's caused not just to Duloc already, but to the citizens. He was a truly vindictive individual. The melee knights bashed down a door from one of the shops with pink flowers in front of the window, where they gestured for one of the crossbow knights to come. One of them did, and he aimed his crossbow inside the shop; if they're going to send a powerful, remorse-free message about taking over, they have to give variety in what they do to people inside the different buildings.

"NO! DON'T SHOOT AT US! PLEASE!" a woman begged, but 'no mercy' was all that the firing knight could think of.

He blasted all of the people inside, and the second one of the arrows impaled the forehead of a young Duloc citizen who appeared to be working in this specific items shop, blood was sliding down his face like a fountain, before he collapsed firmly onto the ground. The woman was horrified, feeling funny at the sight of blood and weak, but she didn't have long to react. The knight, wanting to spray the entire inside with his arrows, had impaled her in her shoulder with the arrows, prompting her to cry, cough and yell out in pain, much to the robotic nature of the knight. She fell down, before losing her consciousness at the sheer pain of the arrow being stuck inside her.

Duloc was practically a ghost town at this point. Screaming and running amongst the citizens could be heard in the distance, but Charming's forces have already scared them off. They needed to continue the attack for as long as Charming himself feels is enough to have sent the message. They moved forwards into Duloc as more citizens in the distance were running away between the buildings, with some blood on the concrete ground that Charming and his forces were walking on from the citizens.

"WOAH WOAH?!" Rumpelstiltskin yelled, noticing all of the citizens running away with tears on their faces, "WHAT'S GOING ON?!"

"J-JUST RUN! PLEASE RUN! DON'T GET SEEN! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD JUST RUN, PLEAASEEE!"

"W-..." Rumpelstiltskin looked off in the distance, noticing a large band of knights approaching amongst some running ones from the sides towards this area; he was shocked in his heart.

Prince Charming noticed that tiny little figure near the stadium entrance in the midst of more blood stains near the tree trunks; he knew that dwarf very well. He turned to his knights as he was taking in the destruction he's caused, wanting them to chase after that figure.

"He's up there, get him..." Charming said, as he held his crossbow downwards to the ground.

From behind that tiny figure though, approached some of Duloc's own knights, in numbers that were a dwarf size compared to Charming's. About ten of them were running towards the forces, upon hearing that they're committing a deadly massacre. There was no time in stopping or debating; they HAVE to kill these people, who're clearly killing innocent citizens for some barbaric, cruel reason.

"ATTACK THEM!" Charming yelled, with all of the melee knights suddenly charging off to the 'gigantic' group of ten Duloc knights, like a bunch of cheetahs.

Once they collided, the Duloc knights were instantly overwhelmed by the numbers as they could feel themselves be dragged around in the midst of the large group. Their helmets were forcefully taken off from their armour, where they were given a bunch of punches across the nose, cheeks, and eventually, once Charming got there, an arrow to the head from his crossbow. Once they had dealt with the Duloc knights, surprisingly easily too, they moved onwards towards the stadium entrance. As they got near it, Prince Charming had eyed up the buildings here with a bunch of crying and panicking citizens inside, where he felt like he should perhaps kill two more buildings worth of them. He gestured for the melee knights to go into the buildings alongside a crossbow one to take care of them.

Simply put, the result of Charming losing his mother all those years ago, alongside being humiliated and almost killed by Shrek from that tower back at Far-Far away, has led him to being this way. This massacre he's committing is basically a reality view into how his mind works nowadays, and it's shown one of the most merciless, dangerous, cruel overturns of somebody. The fact that he's smiling at the citizens crying as they try to revive their dead relatives from the invasion so far only solidifies that.

The knight had bashed the door down, where a group of younger men were piled into the corner, but the knights were particularly caught on by the sight of Rumpelstiltskin in the other corner; 'a cunning looking dwarf' Charming said. This looked precisely like him. As the crossbow knight once again began firing at the young men, the melee knight rushed in and dashed for Rumpelstiltskin, taking him by his sides. Rumpelstiltskin himself was trembling with fear; Prince Charming's got a ton of blood on his hands; was he really trying to work with somebody as ruthless and murderous as him? his heart felt weak as he was being dragged out of the building; he was practically crying. The sight of Charming, situated in front of a large band of knights, had made him weep in fear even more. Prince Charming nodded at Rumpelstiltskin with a smile at the sight of him; the invasion's gone perfect so far, even more so, that he now has Rumpelstiltskin in his grasp again.

"Did you miss me?" Charming asked. "Take him to the castle...I've got plans for him later on tonight..."

As Rumpelstiltskin didn't bother fighting back, given that he's surrounded and captured by a bunch of men twice his size, Prince Charming moved further into Duloc as they were now making their way through the tunnel leading into the stadium, and in turn, the entrance to the governing castle. To stop the citizens from escaping during the midst of this invasion, Charming had left a ton of melee knights to stand at the entrance; anybody who tried to escape is instantly killed, is what he told them to adapt to. As a result, the knights were standing there, watching all of the citizens that were hiding out initially crying down at the dead bodies of their brothers, sisters. The entrance was where the most people were, so as a result, the number of dead bodies at the entrance was the greatest out of the entirety of Duloc. All of the inside of the buildings probably rivalled that, but the entrance was particularly the worst.

Charming's forces moved into the stadium, where the rest of Duloc's citizens were, hence why they could hear screaming in the town, yet it was as dead as a ghost town. The sight of the very people who've committed this murderous run made them fall down to the ground against the walls; they were crying, pleading for their lives, as the uncertainty of if their relatives were safe or not were at the top of their heads.

"Leave them - our message has been established. Move into the castle..." Charming said, feeling like enough innocent citizens have been killed for his message to be felt across Duloc as a whole, not that he would hesitate in killing everyone here; they still needed them alive to govern.

Some of the melee knights had guarded the entrance tunnel to this stadium, stopping the citizens from escaping here too. As Charming's forces neared the door of the governing castle, Charming himself stood to the side of the door in the midst of the loud crying and screaming that was running into their ears from every part of the stadium floor by the citizens in their trembling fear. Charming held a tight grasp upon the door handle, wanting to prepare just in case anybody would be standing on the opposite side, ready to strike.

"On my go - we enter, and again, kill whenever...GO!" he said, kicking the door open to emptiness.

"It's all clear - let's move..." Charming said, finally getting away from the crying and screaming of the citizens outside; there was a large tunnel-like opening he and his knights had to walk through.

When they got through it, there was a large collection of stairs they had to climb in order to get to the top floor, or just the other floors. Charming took a step back here; he's the only one without armour, so he wanted his knights to take the front lead whilst he still has a crossbow.

The reason why the invasion has practically gone without basically any sort of retaliation was this; the Armoury Minister had actually TOLD the guarding knights at the time to withdraw from their posts and return to their families, but that meant that they had to get out of their armour and turn back into regular citizens basically. This meant that, although it appeared as if there were no knights except from the ten that tried to retaliate near the stadium, the knights were actually some of the citizens that Charming and his forces had killed.

"Hold up - you take the lead, be wary...kill anybody you see..."

After about two minutes walking upwards, the two spear-holding knights guarding the door had noticed a large group of knights emerging up the steps, but the second they were caught by Charming's forces, his knights instantly came at them like a pack of wolves. They used their spears to push them back successfully, but the tide quickly turned when it came to the numbers game. They once again had their helmets removed forcefully, and the echoing sound of a gigantic brawl with steel could be heard amongst the corners of this stair room. Charming aimed his crossbow right onto the head of one of the guarding knights, before pelting an arrow directly into it, followed by the other knight, in which Charming did the same.

"Clear out this castle...I'm gonna talk with our 'friend' if he's in here...be ready..." Charming said, once again ducking at the door, in case anybody was on the other side, waiting to attack.

He kicked the door open, unveiling a hallway of doors with emptiness, but suddenly, more knights had emerged from some of the doors with gigantic swords. The swords had clashed with the armour of Charming's forces. He realized that he was running out of arrows, so he really couldn't afford wasting them on trying to get them through the helmet hole. Luckily, though, despite the inexperience, that training from the Armoury Minister before had allowed them to once again overwhelm the Duloc knights. They instantly surrendered. Charming walked towards the middle door of the hallway, twisting the handle around slightly. He kicked that one open, and standing in it was none other than the Armoury Minister, who had actually jumped at the door being banged. The knights behind Charming had tried charging in, but Charming had told them to back off.

"He's clear, he's clear..." Charming said, walking into the room, showing off his crossbow to the Armoury Minister.

"S-so you had success, huh?" he said.

"Oh, we've had success alright...come out here, let's just...let's just talk, okay?" Charming said, holding his arm around the Armoury Minister like his pal, patting him occassionally.

They were walking towards the stairs, getting past all of the knights. As the Armoury Minister was surprised at all of the knights being here, he noticed a drip of blood on the leotard of Charming; this surprised him even more. It was an invasion, why would he have blood on his clothing?

"Uh, Charming, what's with the blood?" he asked, with them stopping directly in front of the stairs.

"Come on, I needed to send a message to Duloc, didn't I? what with using your citizens here to do that...I think-"

"You WHAT?!" The Armoury Minister said, shocked, shoving Charming away.

"Charming, sir, we've sent a strong message with this attack and invasion..." one of Charming's knights said, as the Armoury Minister was shocked, as if his heart had stopped beating; he now realized that he had just made a grave mistake.

The Armoury Minister backed away, disturbed by what he's just been told.

"Aye, but THIS is the ultimate message..." Charming said, turning to the Armoury Minister.

Prince Charming sent his fist up and pelted it harshly against the cheek of the Armoury Minister, sending him off of the top of the stairs before rolling and banging himself off of them onto the next floor down. The Armoury Minister was knocked out cold, as the knights had laughed alongside Charming.

"He thought he could deceive us..." Charming said, rubbing the fist he used to punch the minister, "when they discover that we've done all of this...all of Duloc will be CRYING for our power over their lives...KNIGHTS, clear out the castle if you can, I'll attend to my good old friend, Rumpelstiltskin over there..."

All that Charming needed to do, now that he's put Duloc on alert with his murderous message, and practically earned his power over the nation, was to capture and kill the other ministers. They were in the upper floors of the governing castle, where they've been oblivious to not only the murdering of the President before, but also this murderous invasion. Charming himself had acknowledged that Shrek wasn't anywhere to be seen, but he was sure that the orge will come running back here, and when he does, it'll be the last thing he ever does. As for Felicia, if Shrek does come back, Charming's plans for her were drastically different to what he's going to do to Shrek and Rumpelstiltskin, in which he'll 'execute' his plan for the dwarf tonight.


	36. Inevitable fate

**CHAPTER 36: Inevitable fate**

Trapped and isolated in one of the governing rooms under the imprisonment of Prince Charming, Rumpelstiltskin tried to contemplate what he had did wrong for all of this to happen. He's a changed person, surely? so why is he suddenly back to square one, just like the time he was under the capture of Charming at his old base? one thing was for certain in his mind; he's not going to be alive by this time tomorrow, based on the hints that Charming has given. The more he recalls the sight he had seen outside before, when Charming and his forces were gaining upon the territory of Duloc, the more it horrified him. Innocent people were killed, practically for the sake of it, and now, Duloc's under the threat of returning to it's old roots, except this time, the dictator will arguably be a hundred times as bad. Prince Charming didn't mind going through all of that, though, if it meant he could fulfill his desire of conquering power once and for all and impressing his late mother, Fairy Godmother.

The door had two wooden planks situated across it on the other side. They acted like the barriers to prevent it being open, and of course, only the people on the outside have the ability to open it up. Rumpelstiltskin, on the other hand, was trapped without a single chance of busting it open. What else does he have to do to change his luck, now that he's changed himself entirely? that was a question he couldn't answer, given that his heart was beating rapid rounds out of the pure apprehension. There was a clanking sound coming from the door, prompting Rumpelstiltskin to frightfully emerge onto his two tiny feet. The two planks were placed onto the walls besides the door itself as it opened, in which two knights were unveiled from it.

"Boy, has the King been waiting for you..." one of them said, carrying the spear that one of those old Duloc knights had before they were attacked.

Rumpelstiltskin knew what he had to do. He was shivering all the way from his chest down to his legs as he moved closer towards the door and the knights. This was Charming's doing, and whatever 'King' Charming was wanting to discuss, Rumpelstiltskin was dreading every single aspect of it. It's dawned on Rumpelstiltskin now though, that Charming is a person who should be taken a lot more seriously since he's managed to nearly conquer Duloc into his hands, albeit some more 'clearing out' to do.

As he stepped out between the knights, he looked to the side to notice President Baystood's fallen, non-moving body near the hallway walls; he was...dead. Rumpelstiltskin's eyes widened and his breathing took on a heavier, rapid pace with the desire to let out a bunch of tears. Seeing a dead body just casually slumped there was disturbing, but this was Charming after all, so of course it'd be there.

"When you're ready, Mister Stiltskin..." A voice had said, in which the source of it came from Prince Charming himself, standing besides another door.

Charming was getting accustomed to this castle, and it spoke a ton of words about the progress that's been made by his forces when he's already using it as if he's the true leader of Duloc. Two knights had grasped upon his armpits from both sides, forcefully making Rumpelstiltskin walk at their pace towards the room that Charming wanted them to go in. Just by looking at the other rooms, and judging by the sheer silence from the direction of the doors along the hallway, Rumpelstiltskin's chilling feelings furthered when it dawned on him that whoever was in power alongside Baystood, they had most likely been killed already.

Charming took his comforts into the old office of Baystood, precisely the place where the Armoury Minister had murdered him. When Charming entered and Rumpelstiltskin was in too in thanks to the knights, they slammed the door shut, prompting Charming to reach over to the table and hold up his sword that he left in here before, not too long ago. The knights refused to let Rumpelstiltskin go from their hard grip, and Charming seemed to 100% approve of that.

"You must be terrified? you think you've passed it all, you think you're so good and mighty to have escaped. But now, imprisoned by me once again, you find yourself trembling in your tiny miniature boots again. Strange, isn't it?" Charming asked.

"C-Charming...what have you DONE?!" Rumpelstiltskin pleaded.

"See? this is what I'm talking about, 'Stiltskin. You were mouthing off back at the camp, but now suddenly, when I've got everything in my hands, you're as weak as water. But hey, I guess that's what you always were. What have I done? you ask? well, I'd happily show you what I've done, but I think I demonstrated our newly acquired strength when we did what we had to do, so I won't waste your time. But here's what I'm GONNA do..."

Rumpelstiltskin gulped when Charming started approaching him, holding a piece of paper. Charming briefly held the paper in Rumpelstiltskin's face, to give him a demonstration as to what his intentions are.

"You see this?" Charming asked, holding up the paper that was signed under the negotiations that were used to transform Duloc into the democratic PND, or People's Nation of Duloc.

Rumpelstiltskin barely had any time to see it.

"President this...democratic that...President here, President there...what a cowardly way to go about it, wouldn't you agree?" Charming said, placing his two hands onto the paper to rip it up right through the middle.

The sound of what appeared to be an important treaty of some sorts ripping had made Rumpelstiltskin feel the expression that an entire population has just officially been handed over to a ruthless, murderous dictator.

"Listen, Charming, I've learnt enough to realise that what I did was wrong...I'll make sure that you-" Rumpelstiltskin stopped himself from getting overly cocky, because he was sure that with Charming's surprising achievement, he was ten times as barbaric than he was at the camp.

"Hahaha...you're going to what? huh? come on? what have you got, little guy? hey?" Charming ducked down to Rumpelstiltskin to slap his face, harder by each slap, "what've you got? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING..."

"You see Mister Stiltskin, as impressive as your past claims you are, you're deluded. Once I place myself in charge of this place, I will have the power to do everything I wanted to do when we first met...this is only the start, and with my control, I will annex every single worthless piece of land that's there to annex, nobody will be walking freely outside during the night, NOBODY leaves Duloc, and nobody will see a grasp of the outside world EVER again. And as for you? well, let's-"

"The one thing I can rub into your face, though, is that you'll NEVER ever get Shrek...he's rightfully left, so much for your revenge, hey?"

"Are you squaring up to me? guards, why don't we show Mister Stiltskin here what happens when people square up to me?"

The knights rapidly shoved Rumpelstiltskin against the wall with his arms, like a swing, colliding him against it with a thud, emitting a burning sensation amongst the front of his chest, and his head. He turned his head so his cheek was laying specifically on the cold hard wall of the room. The knights kept him against the wall with a hard grip.

"When did you side with Shrek, hey? don't blame me for what's happening to you, little Stiltskin. You were the one who wanted to get back at him, and it just so happens that you turned to me. Every single time you bring up Shrek, the sheer hypocrisy in your tone makes me chuckle to the final bit of air going through my mouth. And as for Shrek, the second he steps back into Duloc, he and his family will no longer see the day of light...remember, it was you who did this, not me...so I guess I have you to thank, huh?" Charming said, with Rumpelstiltskin developing a depressing mood of thoughts in his head upon the realisation that what Charming's saying was true.

He did, after all, want to avenge himself against Shrek, and he DID turn to Prince Charming, eventually with Felicia. So technically, this was all Rumpelstiltskin's fault. He couldn't bare remembering that, though, because it only made him realise that he should've changed a LONG, LONG time ago. Just recalling Felicia's crying face from the time Charming had yelled at her had only made him feel more sympathy for Shrek and Felicia herself. He's never had a family, before, so he couldn't imagine just how much worry Shrek was going through when Felicia had disappeared from him. He still wanted to try and get the last word in on Charming.

"Y-You're crazy..."

"I believe history will see things differently...alright knights, send him back, and prepare to overtake that church we've found in this place..."

The knights nodded, grabbing Rumpelstiltskin with an aggressive set of movements to drag him out of the room. Prince Charming stood there, smiling, as he watched the guy he's going to execute tonight be dragged back; it felt PERFECT to finally be in the ruling of his own place. He's more than impressed his mother, he thought, but that wasn't enough. He still felt like he had to do more, and that meant the executions, solidifying his grip on power, and most importantly, the commencing of the brainwashing of the citizens into thinking that Fairy Godmother was the creator and the eternal god of Duloc, like a perfect dictatorship. He felt like nobody could stop him, and he LOVED it.

"Mother, the tears of those citizens empower our potential, and our strength. I will stop at NOTHING to succeed in this...what I did today was not just the right thing, but it was also a good feeling...the tactic I used helped me to unleash those vindictive feelings I have developed ever since that dreaded orge took away everything from me...mummy, our destruction is just starting...and there's nothing ANYBODY can do about us having what we should have done a long time ago...I love you, mummy..." Charming said, secretly, looking up towards the roof to talk to his mum, Fairy Godmother.

**CHARMING IS STANDING AT THE STAND FARQUAAD USED TO USE**

Prince Charming's entire brainwashing process of the Duloc citizens begins right now, and he's came up with a motive for the attack he did before during the invasion, and one that'll easily be brought in by these lunatics, as he thinks of them. When he stepped out, all of them were still screaming and panicking, because who wouldn't be that way after a deadly massacre where innocent people, including relatives of families, were killed seemingly without purpose? he waved his hand in the air to try and capture the attention of all the citizens, but they were still screaming and crying. Luckily, the melee knights were still in their positions, to prevent all of the citizens from escaping the stadium.

"SILENCEE AT ONCEEEEEE!" Charming yelled, with the top of his lungs; Farquaad's voice, at the time that Shrek had decided to wrestle the knights, was echoed loudly from here, and Charming's voice was no different, so it got well into the ears of mostly everyone; they fearfully looked up at the guy standing up at the stand.

"I have no idea why you're all crying...whatever it may be, snap out of it...this is a time in which you should be listening to your own supreme leader..."

The citizens weren't as gullible as Charming had expected, but they still played along; they got the sense that if they don't respect this guy and his forces, they're instantly dead. In other words, one false slip, and they're pretty much arrested and tortured, the policy that Charming precisely wants to adopt into his newly acquired kingdom, in order to keep his power as high as possible as the 'Supreme Leader'. His name for this was the 'No Mercy policy'.

"What happened before was a message; a message of the delivery that has been gifted to Duloc in the form of us. Your old leader was a coward, and he was as thin as a single piece of wheat. We, on the other hand, represent a much needed change. Under our power, Duloc will not only become stricter, there will also be MUCH NEEDED limits. You see, your relatives, all your worthless friends or families had died during that attack before, and you know why? it was a PUNISHMENT, inflicted upon US, this is now US, there's no turning back, and that punishment was telling us 'how dare you trust a weakling in the form of the previous leader?' and it has also enabled us to unveil the truth. You see, Fairy Godmother, the long passed entity who is also my mother, was secretly the being who had founded this great place, and ever since she was hidden amongst the floor to make space for all of the predecessors of a weak status, she had developed anger, hatred, and a desire for a punishment. That punishment came in the form of TODAY'S attack. So Duloc is not only going to be imposed into a stricter status, you will all be respecting the dear, long passed Fairy Godmother, who never got her gratitude for giving you lives in the first place..."

The citizens still had tears in their eyes from the sheer panic and apprehension of death, despite listening to Charming's lengthy speech and declaration. They still weren't buying anything he was saying, but they were too scared to show their feelings, given what he and his forces did prior in the form of not only invading Duloc, but killing their friends, families and relatives. It was as if at this point, their lives were now being watched by EVERY single action they do.

"AND SPEAKING OF LEADERS...here's the treaty...FROM THIS POINT ONWARDS, I SHALL NOW SERVE AS THE SUPREME LEADER OF DULOC..." Charming yelled, holding up a yellow bit of paper that was actually one of the treaties from the transformation negotiations.

The citizens clapped to save themselves from any form of punishment and forcefully cheered, trying to hide their broken down voices; they just couldn't hide it entirely, though. They were clearly scared of what may happen to them given that now, Duloc has basically been given one dangerous power grab in the form of Prince Charming. That treaty? was the treaty that had solidified the President's place in power. Charming had scribbled that out and he had signed the following on it. Waving it up and showing it off to the forcefully-cheering crowd, it read this:

 _Upon the final agreement, establishing Duloc as the official People's Nation of Duloc, the President has every single right to hold power over every single aspect of the nation, thereby allowing her/him to control what his/her ministers do in their assigned roles. PRINCE CHARMING_

He wrote his name in capitals at the end of that specific paragraph. Although illegal and unofficial, this only meant one thing, and that thing posed a very dangerous threat to the well being of not just the area nearby, in which Charming wants to ANNEX it, but also the state of the citizens. He wasn't a President, he was a dictator.

Prince Charming is now 'officially' in control of Duloc. This could very well spell the doom of it's citizens, given the tight dictatorship that he wants to turn it into to solidify his power. There was also a reason why he sent one of his knights to check out the church, in particular; he had the idea to use that as the executing area for tonight, and yes, he does intend on FORCING the citizens to attend and watch these executions.

When this is all accomplished and secured, he's going to finally do the one thing that he's wanted to do ever since that tower fell down over him back at Far-Far away; kill Shrek, once and for all, and anybody else who've allied themselves with the orge.


	37. Far-Far away's celebration

**CHAPTER 37: Far-Far away's celebration**

The night had finally arrived at Far-Far away, and boy, did Shrek and his family need the type of atmosphere the celebration delivered. The disco-feeling made them completely forget everything they went through with Charming, and it felt like their lives were re-starting. This was reminiscent of the time Donkey and Puss sung 'Livin la vida loca', except, of course, they weren't singing. Instead, they were getting in on the disco dancing type of occurrence that was unfolding all over the courtyard. Luckily, King Arthur had arranged for only the best singers within the kingdom to deliver their glorious voices to the microphones. It was still impressive that for a kingdom like Far-Far away, it's got technology like music boxes and the microphones, enabling Artie to fully enhance the joyful experience. Then again, they always had them during the time Donkey and Puss had sang, way before Artie was even considered the heir to the throne.

Shrek and Fiona were having a dancing contest together, with Fergus, Felicia and Farkle besides Shrek, as the majority of the citizens nearby had turned to watch the most bizarre thing in the history of their lifetimes; two orges DANCING amongst them. They secretly enjoyed watching them participate, though. As the white spotlights were shining their way all over the roaring and dancing collection of citizens in the courtyard, with some of them near the coloured marquees in the corner of the courtyard, Artie was talking to a specific somebody who looked awfully familiar; somebody who had a long beard, and somebody who had blue robes with a big spiky blue hat. Shrek hadn't thought anything of it when he began walking over to Arthur to talk to him, but the unorthodox clothing of this person caught his eye.

"Won't be a tick, Fiona!" Shrek said, as he was walking towards Arthur near those white spotlights near the castle itself, in which Fiona started dancing with Fergus, Felicia and Farkle.

Shrek struggled to make it through the citizens. Their cheers and their dancing spirits caused for an energetic environment. Their voices were echoing, and the voices were very much flying into the orge's ears, but not to his anger. He felt like this was the perfect type of atmosphere for himself and his family at the moment, so it was all good. After a few more seconds of accidentally moving into the much smaller citizens compared to his orge size, in which they all laughed in groups, danced and continued to cheer to the music, Shrek finally arrived at the castle to notice Arthur talking with a wizard. There was no doubt about it, this was definitely a wizard.

"Arthur?" Shrek said, yelling slightly to get his voice heard to Arthur in the midst of the loud citizens dancing within this disco-like environment.

"Ohh, hey Shrek, do you like it so far?"

"Let me tell you, Arthur I'M LOVING IT. Who's this?" Shrek asked, pointing to the blue wizard.

"Why, who am I, you ask? how awfully rude of you, HMPH!" Mr Merlin said, nodding with disapproval.

"No, it's okay, it's okay, uh-" Artie stuttered.

"Don't worry kid, I was just joking..." Mr Merlin insisted, "my goodness, are they always this loud?"

"This is a special occasion, so let them be, Mr Merlin...but uh, yeah Shrek, you remember Mr Merlin, don't you?"

Shrek couldn't believe it; Mr Merlin looked exactly the same as he did when Arthur tried running away from Shrek himself at the time. That same old, long, white beard that dangled towards the floor was there. It was most likely the case that, being a wizard who can do magic, even though he retired from it a long time ago, aging doesn't affect him physically, even though he's an old man. Shrek was getting the exact same feelings he had when he was trying to convince Arthur to go to Far-Far away to be king, just by seeing Mr Merlin again. Merlin and Arthur had both established a good friendship with each other shortly after Arthur himself became king, so it wasn't really a surprise to see him here for this occasion tonight. For Shrek, though, it was.

"It's uhh...we had some old times, didn't we?" Shrek said.

"Old? ah yeah, I'm aware, I'm as weak as a snapped twig, might I tell you, but this here orb ought to restore my credibility, hey?"

"I wasn't referring to your age, Mr Mer-what is that orb for?" Shrek asked, intrigued by Mr Merlin's mentioning of an orb.

"Oh yeah, Shrek, I forgot to tell you, didn't I? Mr Merlin's gonna perform a trick called the uhm...uh...sorry, what is it called again?"

"Well, it is quite a secretive old trick of mine I used to do in the younger ages...it's called the ORB OF LONG DISTANT OCCURRENCES!" Mr Merlin dramatically said, hissing at the end to make it sound all the more dramatic.

"Maybe you should consider keeping IT from spraying about, wouldn't you say?" Shrek said, wiping his nose from the spit Mr Merlin had spat from the hiss.

"Anyways, uh, Shrek, Mr Merlin here, in a bit I guess, is going to show us this orb magic where he'll be able to uh...spy on things beyond the kingdom, I thought we all needed something cool and creative to cap off tonight's celebration...huh?"

"Good on you, Arthur, I guess I can stick around for that..."

"I want to know how much I'm getting paid for this?" Mr Merlin said, looking at Arthur with a raised eyebrow.

"Y-You said I didn't have-"

"Did I? oh yessss, I did, I'm just...I'm just as slippery in my mind as a penguin on ice, it's not good, you know?" Mr Merlin said.

"I uh-sure, of course not.."

Whilst Shrek, Mr Merlin and Arthur were chatting with each other, Donkey was with his babies as Dragon was sat down in the distance, just beyond the courtyard border, but because she was so big and tall, she was able to see over it entirely. The kingdom was perfectly comfortable with having Dragon here, due to Arthur allowing it. Donkey tried to show off a few of his dancing tricks that he did in the past to his babies, but they were clearly too young to acknowledge it, and the roaring cheers and laughs of the citizens around the courtyard, dancing to the disco tunes of the singers, made it harder for them to hear their dad anyways. Puss was busy just taking a stroll around the courtyard with a small glass of milk in his paw. Pinocchio and The Three Little Pigs were busy doing their own little dance off elsewhere in the courtyard.

Mr Merlin reached into his robe-like bag, with his arms shivering as their weakness had shown in the worst way possible, but it didn't stop him from picking up the blue orb from the bag. He couldn't stand the loudness of the celebration across the courtyard, especially as an old man who'd retired from magic, but what could he do? he simply had to get on with it. Once the orb was in his hand, Shrek and Artie both looked at it with admiration; it was glittering shines amongst it's navy-like coloration. It was an object he had mastered ages ago when he was a younger wizard, but it had so much value that he didn't really take it outside of his house, until now.

"Just one quick rub of this and you'll all be looking at one flashy screen, but ah, AH AH AH..." Mr Merlin waved his finger at Shrek and Artie as he thought he could see them walking closer to it, when it was just his old eyes playing with him, "step away...you have no idea how valuable this is to me..." he placed his other hand on the top of it, petting it like an animal.

"M-Mr Merlin, that looks incredible..."

"It looks like something that'd make a good lamp back at the swamp. Let me tell you, earwax candles don't last us orges long enough, hahahahaha..." Shrek chuckled.

"Uh, ahem, well anyways, isn't it incredible, my boy? this orb has been with me for decades, now normally I wouldn't show it off to public eyes, but because-"

"Heyyy! look who it is!" Donkey said

"For once I agree with you, it's our old friend here..." Puss said, with the both of them raising their eyebrows at Mr Merlin.

"STEP BACK! CAREFUL! OH MY GOODNESS! STEP BACK!" Mr Merlin pledged, holding onto the orb with protection to ensure nobody touched it as they all approached him.

Lillian walked in through the crowd to the sight of an old man, in robe blue clothes, holding onto a glowing, glass ball shaped navy object.

"What's going on here? you're all having one big commotion, if I'm seeing correctly?" she said, confused at Mr Merlin particularly.

"WOAH, CAN YOU ALL STEP BACK?! THIS ORB IS VALUABLE, AND I CAN'T AFFORD BREAKING IT!" Mr Merlin said, with everyone hearing him in the midst of the loud cheers of the disco-like celebration.

"Okay guys, let's just take this easy and step away...Mr Merlin, do you need a hand?" Artie asked.

"No, haha, I've got it hahaha, it's perfectly secure in my magical palms...I just want enough space to be able to hold it safely..." Mr Merlin said.

Rather than holding it for now, Mr Merlin figured that it's probably for the better if he moves it back into the bag, and then when the time comes for the actual magic to be performed, he'll take it back out and put it into position. Putting it into the bag made him feel more easier. He stood up straight, and looked at Shrek with a cheesy smile as his white beard became easily noticeable in everyone's eyes, including Donkey, Puss and Lillian. Fiona was still busy dancing with Fergus, Farkle and Felicia.

"Now then, orge, what've you been up to, hey? I vaguely remember meeting you alongside this kid behind me, ehy?"

"The real question is, have you learnt NOT to switch other beings into bodies that THEY AREN'T ACCUSTOMED TO? HUH, HUH, HUUH?" Donkey said, with Mr Merlin rubbing his beard.

"Well uh, to be blunt I haven't precisely-"

"Exactly. I can't tell you how bad that time was, you know? to be one big four legged colossal-"

"Okaayyy then, well Artie..." Shrek interrupted, stopping Puss from beginning an argument, "I'll sure be looking forward to whatever this guys gonna do.."

"You better, orge. This orb is the money to my life, I wouldn't be able to do the type of magic it possesses by myself...do you understand?"

"Oh yeah, I understand..." Shrek said, putting on a noticeable satire tone.

With Shrek, Lillian, Felicia, Fergus, Farkle, Donkey, Artie, Fiona, Pinocchio, Dragon, Puss and The Three Little Pigs occupied with the celebration and an anticipation of whatever trick Mr Merlin is going to perform for the Far-Far away kingdom in a bit, is it safe to say that they've forgotten about what's happening elsewhere? it probably is. Shrek didn't bother bringing up the incident between himself and a couple of Prince Charming supporting teenagers, because he felt like that would kill the atmosphere. He was sure anyways that at this point, Charming's forces have already collapsed, and he's basically running away from the destruction of his own forces. If Shrek was able to get his hands on Charming, he wouldn't know what he'd do. All he cares about now is that Felicia is safe, so assuming he never sees Charming again, he can forget about it and simply harden his protective nature over Felicia; after what happened to her, he's wanting to protect her at every single possible chance.

The group, and all of the citizens in the courtyard were more than anticipating Mr Merlin's magic. They wanted him to do it now, but of course, being an old magician, he has to shake the rust off in order to get used to doing it again. The magic behind it is that, the orb, being known as the Orb of Long Distant Occurences according to Mr Merlin, has the ability to fire up a large flashy square of smoke where, like a video, you'll be able to see various locations that're far away from where the orb itself is, in the exact same time. So in short, it can be used to spy on a place. It was due to be ready any minute.


	38. Mr Merlin's greatest accident

**CHAPTER 38: Mr Merlin's greatest accident**

Mr Merlin walked all the way up to the castle entrance, where everyone was standing in anticipation. He, shivering with his hands as he carried the navy orb with slowness, placed it down onto the red carpet just on the top of the small steps leading up to the castle door. When he placed it down, he turned around to the crowd with his big white beard dangling towards the floor, before cracking his fingers and palms to prepare to execute the magic. Shrek and his family, alongside his friends, were all at the front, and Dragon didn't need to move at all, because she can just, once again, watch it from beyond the border due to how big she was. Her babies though, remained with her because they were actually somewhat scared of Mr Merlin, with him being a wizard and all and the fact that he's about to deliver genuine magic.

The entire courtyard had silenced themselves, in anticipation for Mr Merlin's magic.

"You people are the only ones on this entire planet that'll see what I'm about to show you all. I'm a retired wizard, so you know, should anything go wrong here, I would've still held up my end of the bargain, okay?"

The citizens of Far-Far-away nodded, as Shrek had kept his smile hidden from Mr Merlin. Arthur was also excited; he looked like one of the citizens rather than the king, his excitement was that similar to theirs.

"Okay...okayyyy...okaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy..." Mr Merlin extended, closing his eyes and tapping his fingers against the side of his head, as if he was mentally preparing himself to unfold the magic. "AHA! I'VE GOT IT! Now then, because I have just spoken to the up aboves to switch my magic self back on, name me a place you'd like to spy on..."

As the citizens began yelling collectively to Merlin, the old wizard was getting confused, worryingly scratching his long beard. Fiona had an idea, and it was one that would make the most sense given everything that's happened to her and her husband prior to coming here.

"PPST, hunny, say Duloc..." Fiona said.

"D-Duloc? what for?"

"What for? why does that matter? don't you wanna at least see how it's getting on following...you know who's presence there?!"

"OKAY UH, GOING ONCE, GOING TWICE...DO I HEAR ANYMORE?!" Mr Merlin said, auction style.

"DULOC!" Shrek yelled, with his orge voice emitting a louder thud than anybody else's.

"Oh my, not that I've heard of a place like that before, but does it sound interesting! OKAY, DULOC IT IS...AHEM..." Mr Merlin once again cracked his fingers whilst looking down at the navy shaded orb.

Shrek didn't think that that was such a bad idea after all; he of course turned to the newly-democratic government of Duloc to save Felicia from Charming, so it dawned on him that he ought to check it out. That is, if this so-called orb magic actually works as Mr Merlin claims.

"Hey, if it's like a portal, Fiona, can we toss Donkey through it?" Shrek said, mischievously.

Not even Fiona could hold in her laughter from that.

Everybody in the courtyard had butterflies in their stomachs in the internal excitement of witnessing in-person magic. Mr Merlin placed his hands out towards the orb, before uttering the magical words to activate the orb. He's doing this after years of keeping the orb in a secure, firm place, so even he didn't know if he could still do it.

"CHAMINGKILLHIMZAH, LANGANTO...DULOOOOOCCCCC!" he yelled, with a light blue force suddenly emitting from his hands, right into the orb, as they penetrated the orb to lighten it up from a navy shade to a sky blue.

The light blue force thundering from Mr Merlin's hands had created a blast of smoke that had began by a tornado-shaped collection of it moving rapidly upwards from the top of the orb, where a thick cloud of grey had formed a rectangular formation; Shrek's face, and the entirety of the front of the castle entrance, was lit up in light blue from the shade as this was happening. Mr Merlin's face looked angry and focused, to ensure that the magic didn't fail halfway through. When the grey cloud had finally formed to it's maximum shape, a white light was forming inside. What looked like an image of a church filled with people was starting to form as a bright white began overtaking the grey background, in which it was no image, but instead, a same-time overview of some sort of building in Duloc. The citizens all clapped, and cheered, as they all whistled.

"My oh my...it still works?!" Mr Merlin exclaimed, chuckling to himself.

"GOOD JOB, MR MERLIN!" Artie yelled.

"W-wait a minute..." Shrek said, with his smile gradually fading away upon the unexpected view of what he was seeing; bearing in mind, this was a piece of magic that could make you spy on any long distant location in the SAME TIME, meaning that what is shown is happening in reality.

Everyone was shocked...Artie was shocked, but that was only the beginning, and more was to come, as they're about to find out. Mr Merlin was stunned at his creation still being able to work, but even he widened his eyes at what his orb had came upon.

 _Rumpelstiltskin was being dragged through the church path as a bunch of the Duloc citizens were yelling at the dwarf in hatred, but behind all of those chairs were knights who had their crossbows aimed precisely at the said citizens. It looked as if they were FORCED to be this way, or else, they'll be executed, under their so-called Supreme Leader. He had his hands chained up, and there was a wooden stage right at the front of the church; this was the same church where Farquaad was eaten alive, but it wasn't being used for what it was built for._

 _"HOW DARE YOU BETRAY OUR NATION!" A cracking voice man had said, throwing some objects at Rumpelstiltskin, looking deadly serious in the midst of Charming's knights aiming their crossbows at his side of seats._

 _"YOU HAVE ABANDONED US!" A female yelled, "ABANDONNED USSSSS! COME ON, GO UH...GO GET...GO FALL DOWN INTO THE GROUND!" she said, sounding as if she panicked for a moment upon not knowing what to say, sending horrifying signals for the type of harsh grip Charming truly has over their lives at this point._

 _Rumpelstiltskin was sobbing as his entire face was red. Once his chained self was walked to the front of the seats, Prince Charming stepped up onto the stage from the opposite side, taking out a sword and holding it blade down with both hands. He looked at Rumpelstiltskin with a straight face as he stood in between two tall candles that were placed on the top of some poles. Rumpelstiltskin looked up in shock as his eyes looked like they were entirely red, he was that teary._

"W-Isn't that the guy me and Harold visited before you rescued Fiona-" Lillian tried to ask, referring to Rumpelstiltskin.

"W-What's going on there...i-is that Charming?!" Donkey exclaimed.

"DONKEY, SHUSH!" Shrek yelled, shocked at what the orb's magic was showing.

"T-That's Charming?"

"F-Fiona...you might want to cover the kid's eyes..." Shrek said, gasping as he felt his heart tremble at the sight of what appears to be a heavily controlled crowd; they could hear EVERYTHING, too, and they could see Rumpelstiltskin's crying face.

They all felt shocked and fragile at the sheer sight of what they were seeing.

 _"Behold...the great dwarf..."_

 _Everybody laughed at the expense of a depressed-looking Rumpelstiltskin. The citizens laughed as if they were crying out of it, and the knights all around the deal maker laughed too. Charming simply maintained his statue-like stand on the top of the execution stage, where a couple of the knights turned to their Supreme Leader. Once Charming nodded at them, the knights rapidly turned back to Rumpelstiltskin and they raised up their hands. Rapidly, they sent Rumpelstiltskin slipping down harshly to the ground, thumping him down harshly. They were straight up bullying him at this point._

"W-D-OH NO! MY LITTLE FRIEND!" Felicia exclaimed, prompting a sad face from her at the sight of Rumpelstiltskin being shoved to the ground by Charming's knights.

 _"BRING HIM TO ME..." Charming commanded, before he had another idea in mind to make Rumpel feel all the more humiliated, "WAIT...let him first be UNTOPPED.."_

 _All of the knights nodded, before ducking down to Rumpelstiltskin's fallen body. They started taking out their swords and began cutting through the deal maker's top, ripping it up rapidly as a result of how small it was. Eventually, Rumpelstiltskin was left topless, laying on the ground of the church, as all the citizens were 'cheering' on for their 'traitor' being taunted._

It was at this point that Shrek had realized one thing; this is an EXECUTION. He rapidly told Fiona to cover the kid's eyes, but whenever she tried to, Felicia refused; seeing her best friend bullied around like that made her cry even more. Shrek was starting to develop a sense of sympathy for Rumpelstiltskin, too; as much as he doesn't want the dwarf to be anywhere near his family or himself, seeing him being throttled about like this had made the orge's tough layer break apart to unveil a softie layer. Everytime he saw Prince Charming through the magic, he just wanted to jump in and grab ahold of him to avenge Felicia, but at the moment, there's clearly more to Charming than just Felicia, something that Shrek had also acknowledged, as did Fiona and Donkey, and the others. The citizens of Far-Far away were in pure shock; Mr Merlin has just accidentally used his magic to get a spying view on an execution. Lillian placed her hand on her chest at the disgusting and cruel sight she was seeing.

"W-WHY ARE THEY LISTENING TO CHARMING?! WHY DON'T THEY FIGHT BACK?!" Pinocchio exclaimed, prompting everyone to shush him up; they could hear what was being said from everyone observed in the magic, so they needed to know as much stuff as possible from them.

Pinocchio scraped the floor with his feet slowly as he twirled his hands to his back, looking down at the ground after being told to basically shut up.

 _Charming raised his two palms up into the air, calling for silence from his newly-acquired citizens of his so-called 'kingdom'. He ducked down to Rumpelstiltskin's topless body with the sword in his other hand. Everybody remained silent as the knights kept on aiming their crossbows at the citizens to keep them in place. Charming began chuckling as he could quite clearly notice Rumpelstiltskin's fear from the sheer shivering from his arms. This was basically a showcasing of Charming's new, vindictive side for everything that had happened to him, from failing to grasp power in thanks to Shrek, and from his mother dying a while ago. This was the new Charming, and one that wanted to kill Shrek as soon as possible whenever the orge comes running back. What he doesn't know however, is that he's being watched by a stealthy magic trick in the form of Mr Merlin's long distant orb. If he knew that, he'd probably beg for Shrek to come back to finish off what he should have done ages ago._

 _"You know Rumpel...I was actually impressed with you when we first met..." Charming said, in a whisper-like tone. "But did you honestly think you could fool me into one of your tootie frutie little contracts?"_

Shrek looked at Fiona with shock at what he was hearing; Charming actually CONSIDERED Rumpelstiltskin a THREAT to his plans, and he had no idea what to think. Puss and Donkey looked all depressed and anxious; they didn't realize just how cruel Charming's became, until now, and it made everyone, including Artie, shiver in their spines, but Shrek was unable to get it out of his head that Rumpelstiltskin was telling the TRUTH about being sorry, upon hearing what Charming said through the magic just now. Mr Merlin considered ending it, but he acknowledged that this was probably something they needed to see; not because they wanted to, but because they, perhaps, in his mind, needed information on this entire situation. Duloc was the victim of a coup ten times as worse as the coup Charming committed to Far-Far away, which was what Shrek's group was starting to think, based off of this so far. Dragon was just as shocked as her husband, and frankly, disgusted that Charming had even survived that tower in the first place. The Dronkeys had all hidden around her, so they wouldn't see it.

Little do they know, they're about to witness an explicit execution. It was all apart of Charming's 'no mercy' policy, in order to prevent anybody from stopping him like they did the last time.

 _"You are giving me your life...and I'm signing your grave...hah...so much for friendships?" Charming said, with Rumpelstiltskin breathing with absolute apprehension as his body began heating up, fearing for his life as he couldn't see anything but a collection of citizens ahead, and knights surrounding the stage in the dark, death chamber, which is what it SHOULD be called._

 _Charming stood up, in which the orb's magic had followed his movement, where everybody watching back at Far-Far away were given a clear view as he looked to be making his final announcement before the impaling bit._

 _"TONIGHT...OUR POWER...WILL BE ACHIEVED..." Charming began smiling from the corner of his mouth upon his next sentence, "BY TOMORROW..." he chuckled,_ _before hitting the biggest and most exciting news of all for him, "WE WILLLLL TAKE DULOOOOC...FOREVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"_

 _All of the citizens roared the most energetic cheers in the church in their lifetime, where some of them were briefly looking around to the knights surrounding their chairs with crossbows. They began a drum roll on their wooden sides of the seats by slamming them with their palms, in which that was the countdown for when their newly 'found' Supreme Leader in Charming goes for the impaling. Some of Charming's knights were clapping, too._

 _"So now...with nothing but despair...pain..." Charming said, holding the sword high up above Rumpelstiltskin's body._

Shrek's hand was slowly moving alongside his chest, as his heart was beating a 170 beats per second, practically. He rapidly moved his hands towards his kids so they wouldn't see it, and the citizens of Far-Far away were wanting Mr Merlin to deactivate the magic.

 _Rumpelstiltskin suddenly planted his eyes right into the direction of the perspective from the orb as he was breathing with slowness upon the realization that he's done for._

Shrek's heart felt like it stopped. Rumpelstiltskin was LOOKING AT HIM, or it seemed that way. Donkey, Puss, Lillian and the rest all placed their hands on their mouths, with some of the kids amongst the Far-Far away citizens weeping in fear at what was being shown. Shrek widened his eyes and gasped, with Rumpelstiltskin seemingly looking at him.

 _"I-I'm so sorry..." Rumpelstiltskin said to himself._

 _Charming charged the sword downwards as he ducked rapidly, "DEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he yelled, sending the sword right into Rumpelstiltskin's ribs, prompting Rumpel to widen his eyes as he was sighing in pain with his open mouth...before his eyes completely closed, with his life fading away almost instantly from his impaling as his vision turned black, alongside the burning sensation of blood rushing out of the area of his body that the sword was impaled in._

"NOOO! NOONONONONO! MUMMY, GET OFF MY FACE!" Felicia cried, as Shrek and EVERYONE cringed with pure apprehension; they all yelled and some even felt like they were going to be sick; they've just witnessed somebody being KILLED EXPLICITLY.

Shrek had the full guilt he's been avoiding all this time; his soft layer was showing, and simply put, seeing Rumpelstiltskin being killed by Prince Charming on the spot had made him instantly emotional and weak-feeling, as Felicia was bursting out of her tears.

"O-OH MY GOD!" Donkey yelled.

"ARTHUR, QUICK, GET IT OFF!" Lillian yelled, with Arthur shrugging his shoulders in a panicking manner.

 _"THE TINY DWARF...IS DEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDDD!" Charming yelled, with all of the citizens trying to maintain their acts so they won't be shot from the arrows being threatened upon them._

 _Charming closed his eyes and embraced the atmosphere...as if he was praying to god. He began whispering whilst standing over the dead body of Rumpelstiltskin._

 _"MOTHER...THIS IS IT...IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN OUR POWER, WE HAVE TO DO THIS...NOTHING WILL STOP US NOW!" Charming said, opening his eyes to a repeating wave of jumps of joys from all of the citizens as they yelled to the brink of their throats to cheer for their 'leader'._

"OKAY OKAY, MANTANO, DEACTIVATGAGESHHHHHHHHH!" Mr Merlin, rushing, had yelled, in which the cloud had suddenly evaporated and the orb was instantly back to its darkened shade.

Shrek suddenly made a run for the castle doors, prompting Fiona to follow him.

"S-SHREK?! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!"

"OH NO!" Lillian yelled.

"MR MERLIN, THIS ISN'T YOUR FAULT...UH...EVERYONE, IT'S OKAY, WE'LL GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS RIGHT AWAY...I CAN ASSURE YOU..." Artie said, to a bunch of disgusted, shocked citizens in which some of them were vomiting.

"OH...KIDS!" Fiona said, quickly rushing to grab the three of them as Felicia was crying her eyes out.

Dragon and the rest were unable to comprehend what they just saw; that was NOT the same Charming they had seen when he was here...that was tyrannical, vindictive, and merciless Charming...something HAS to be done, surely?

This was NOT what Mr Merlin intended on happening; he's been retired for so long that he had allowed the orb to choose which aspect of Duloc it would spy on; this was an accident, but an accident that has prompted one of the most polarizing reactions in the history of Far-Far away. There's a dictator out there, an all too familiar one, who has just executed another human being. Mr Merlin was starting to feel guilty, as everyone was starting to lose their focus due to the surreal nature of what they just saw.


	39. Shocking realization

**CHAPTER 39:** **Shocking realization**

Shrek couldn't take much more. Sure, he was at Far-Far away, but seeing what that magic orb had revealed made Shrek realize two things; the swamp is far too dangerous to stay in due to a Charming-controlled Duloc, and the second was to do with Charming himself; he's actually SUCCEEDED. This wasn't like the time Charming took over Far-Far away, far from it. What Shrek saw was an even deadlier person in Charming than he had expected, and to think that he's successfully taken over an innocent place like Duloc with that new ruthless, tyrannical mindset? it made Shrek angrier and angrier and emotional.

What would Farquaad do if he was still alive? oddly enough, that was a question that was secretly running in Shrek's head. He didn't know what it meant, but all he knew was that it was incredibly odd for him to think of that scenario. He still didn't know if it was 'normal' to think of Rumpelstiltskin as a sympathetic person to look up to after what the dwarf initially did (with the whole alternative universe), but Shrek couldn't keep all of his layers hidden forever. The bottom line is, it was a cruel, emotional, and apprehensive-bringing sight to watch Rumpelstiltskin be killed by Charming like that, and Shrek fully confesses to that. He might've (although with heavy reluctance) saved Rumpelstiltskin if he was there, particularly to give back the favor to him for protecting Felicia from Charming when the two of them were under his capture.

"S-Shrek? are you okay?!" Artie said, rushing into the same dining room from the time Shrek had an argument with Harold.

Shrek didn't speak. He began huffing slowly and looked as if he was about to slam his gigantic green orge hands on the table, but he just managed to stop himself. For some reason, seeing Charming execute another human being had made Shrek the most affected one out of them all; he was angered at the fact that Charming's actually managed to succeed in what appeared to be a plan (when Shrek and his group were all in Duloc at least) that'd collapse. With his history with Charming, Shrek had every right to be angry.

"WOAH WOAH, Shrek, there's no need to be this wa-" Artie stuttered, before Shrek interrupted.

"He's gone too far...TOO TOO FAR, ARTHUR..."

"LOOK, I KNOW-"

"Hunny?! why did you just storm off like that?!"

Shrek turned around from the table as the others. had emerged into the dining royal room; including Puss, Donkey, Pinocchio, Lillian and even the dronkeys, amongst the rest.

"Fiona, our KIDS were just exposed to...to...to...a DECAPITATION, HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY BE OKAY WITH THIS?!"

"Shrek, our daughter's crying her eyes out here...do you think it's right to be yelling at this moment?!"

"I'm sorry, Fiona, I've been too soft on not just myself...but my entire family...I have to speak up eventually, right?"

"Well, Shrek, I think I know the perfect solution-"

"Donkey, for crying out loud, you make me wish I'd cut my ears off already. Can you shut up and just...get outta here?!"

"SHREK?!"

"SHREK, SHREK THIS...SHREK THAT... SHREEK...I'M SICK AND TIRED OF ALL OF THE FOCUS BEING ON ME, FIONA. FOR ONCE, CAN YOU JUST ACCEPT THE FACT THAT WE'RE NEVER GOING TO LIVE A NORMAL LIFE AT THIS POINT?!"

Fiona was gasping at Shrek's blatant yelling in front of the kids. Fergus and Farkle weren't as emotional, but Felicia was, since her 'friend' in Rumpelstiltskin had just been executed in front of her eyes.

"W-What're you saying?" Fiona asked, softly.

"Let's face it, what makes us a regular family when you've got maniacs like Charming on the loose? we may as well send ourselves in to him, don't you think?"

Arthur was just standing there, not knowing what to do as he kept on looking around the room whilst trying to think of a solution. If he can just calm Shrek down, he could perhaps find a way to counter what appears to be a taken-over Duloc, even though he's never been there before.

"Shrek..." Arthur said, calmly, as all of Shrek's friends were stood in shock as some knights came rushing in from the powerful yelling, "this is exactly what Charming wants...believe me...you stopped him the last time when he tried to kill me, who's to say you can't stop him again?"

Shrek grabbed ahold of a chair and pulled it out from the long table. He sat down on it slowly as he placed his elbows onto his knees to plant his head into his hands, looking groggy and exhausted from all of the ongoings as of late.

"I admit it...Lillian, you were right..." Shrek said, "I should have given Rumpel a chance...b-but I just...I just couldn't do it...I'm far from worthy of being a dad...I know I can forgive...I felt it...but everytime I do I take ten steps back...why am I this way? I have more potential..."

"S-Shrek, listen..." Arthur said, slowly walking to the sat down orge, "I want you to just look up at what you've got at the moment..." he said.

Shrek obliged surprisingly, although slowly. Upon looking at Fiona and the three kids, alongside his friends just staring at him shockingly, it made his orge heart break; why is he taking out all of this on them? they've been by his side for as long as he can remember, yet he's lashing out at them as if they've done something excessively bad. Arthur adjusted his crown before continuing on.

"Now I know we all have our own tantrums every now and then...but do you really want to be this way when we can easily work together to conquer the problem altogether? there's a saying I learnt back in high school before you, Puss and Donkey came to take me to Far-Far away to be king...don't fix what isn't broken...your family here...your friends...they aren't broken, are they?" he continued to soften his voice, "they love you, Shrek...they'll stick by your side in a tornado or a strand island if they could...and your three gorgeous kids there, they don't want to see their father crying and being this way, right? they're not causing you harm? do you really want to have the memory of aimlessly shouting at your family and friends for no reason?"

Shrek realized one thing; Arthur was right in every way of the word. Just now, he acted like an entitled, raged orge who comes across as somebody who'd cause destruction. He always said this, even prior to Felicia being kidnapped; he didn't want to be too harsh on his kids, and he especially didn't want Felicia to hate him, ever since he's been protective of her. He stood up, wiped his face, and looked across at his friends and family as they all looked calm again. Fiona held Felicia up as the little orge was still crying with tears. Shrek began walking slowly over to Felicia in Fiona's grasp, where he picked her up slowly from Fiona's arms. He gave her a hug as she wrapped her tiny green arms around his head; just feeling the love of his daughter wrap itself around him only made him want to change from how he's acted just now even further.

"I-I'm so sorry...Fiona...Donkey...and everyone here...and Felicia, sweetheart...daddy doesn't mean to be angry...I just...I love you all so much..." Shrek said, hugging Felicia again, as Fiona approached Shrek.

"Don't worry, hunny...you just need to watch your tone...Fergus, Farkle, we all love Shrek, don't we?"

Everybody, not just Fergus and Farkle, had yelled 'yes', prompting the knights to jump in their armour a bit from the unexpected yell of everybody. This not only lightened Shrek up, it made him recall the same mistake he made a while ago; not knowing what he had until it was all taken away.

"Thank you Fiona...and thank you all so much..." Shrek said, with the most grateful-sounding voice he's done in forever.

Shrek's entire motive to raging at his friends and family was down to one man's actions that was just seen via the magic; Prince Charming. Shrek acknowledged at this point that him being this way had to do with Charming; it made him feel physically sick that the man is still alive and, at this very moment in time, is running a deadly dictatorship that appears to have a habit of executing people. Shrek genuinely wished he could go back in time to forgive Rumpelstiltskin earlier; he was, after all, an orge with various layers, and Rumpel's contribution to Felicia's safety was mainly why Shrek had been willing to forgive the dwarf upon seeing him in the state he was in via the orb. It might be odd that he couldn't of done the same to Charming prior to his resurrection with his newly found regime movement, but Charming had developed into a much more vindictive, angered and dangerous persona than Rumpelstiltskin was, even after the dwarf was locked in the cage, and Shrek himself generally never thought about Charming that much until he was told of his resurrection near the swamp.

"Arthur..." Shrek said, feeling like he's redeemed himself to his friends and family, "where's Charming? he's gone too far...I'm not letting him get away with doing what he did to my daughter, most importantly of all..."

"Well Shrek, I ought to agree with you there...I mean...this is a guy who not only tried to kill me, but he's perhaps killed more than what we were shown on the orb just now...Shrek, in short, I'm willing to give Charming the favour back..."

"Woah woah hold on now, ya'll need a gameplan for this, you've all seen what Charming's became, haven't ya?" Donkey interrupted, walking towards Arthur and Shrek.

Arthur and Shrek stared down at the table as the Three Little Pigs were mumbling to themselves, as Pinocchio was stood besides them, just awkwardly by himself as the dronkeys were flying around Donkey, thereby flying near Arthur and Shrek. Fiona had Fergus and Farkle whilst Shrek had Felicia. The time was now to begin the plan of destroying Charming's regime once and for all. The atmosphere felt...depressing, all because of Charming, and Shrek felt like the lump in his throat was so big he couldn't even use his voice anymore. He was focused, however, on getting his own payback against Charming for what he did to Felicia. But if Shrek also knew that Charming had killed plenty of innocent citizens in the first place to gain power, he'd probably feel more inclined to give Charming a piece of his own medicine. It was silent, completely silent for about two minutes, as the fireplace's logs were emitting a crumbling sound as the flames burnt them.

Shrek looked up at a window, showing off the entire kingdom of Far-Far away from this part of the inside of the castle; just seeing the Far-Far away sign upon the foresty hill had made him recall all of the struggles he went through to stop Charming's coup here. All in all, this was Shrek's main intention; if Charming wants him, then Shrek will give himself in, but not so Charming can kill him, but instead, so Shrek himself can give his own form of payback.

"I think the only way...we can stop Charming's rise is by...an operation where we'd have to eliminate his forces...we'd go in, capture Charming, and prosecute him to the maximum extent..."

"Prosecute? why not make him suffer for what he's done? Charming had also invaded a village where he killed a bunch of people...a couple of friends of mine..." (those 'couple of friends' were Twart and Blay) "had told me..."

"We'll work out what his sentence will be...our priority is ensuring now then, that at this point, we just ensure we have Charming's presence under heavy security...where we'll give him the prosecution he truly deserves..."

King Arthur was going to talk to his Far-Far away forces to confirm them with the plan of invading another kingdom to rid it of a deadly dictator in Prince Charming. Under Far-Far away now, Prince Charming was classed as a 'wanted citizen' which is odd, since he's no longer a citizen of the kingdom. But his prosecution will either be a sentence to death, or extremely harsh labour, both of which Shrek felt weren't enough because 1. he wanted Charming to suffer slowly and harshly, and 2. if he's put into hard labour, the chances are he'll be supplied with a roof, food and water. Why should a guy who's clearly committed various murders and invasions be given the easy way out? especially when said guy had, at one time, kidnapped Felicia?

"D-Daddy?" Felicia whispered, as Arthur went off to talk to the knights as Shrek and his friends and family began talking, "my little friend will be looking down to us...r-right?"

Shrek wanted to take this in with open arms.

"Yes, sweetie...yes he is...but guess what? Arthur here is gonna show Charming that being overly confident has opened his doom...and you know why? because nobody messes with your dad..." Shrek said, kissing Felicia on the forehead.

Far-Far away versus a Charming-controlled Duloc? unless there's other ways of capturing Charming, that terrifying prospect of 'war' between the two kingdoms seemed to be the only way to get to Charming directly, so it was the one that King Arthur Pendragon was going with. Shrek and his friends and family seemed to approve of this too. The one kingdom Charming thought he was going to be king in until Arthur came along, was now the kingdom that was going to try and capture him for a prosecution for all of the crimes he's committed in the midst of his rise in his regime.


	40. A dive into Charming's Duloc

**CHAPTER 40: A dive into Charming's Duloc**

One single incident of talking down Charming, Duloc's 'Supreme Leader', and it's off to the punishment table for whoever's done it. This morning was no exception. It had been less than 60+ hours since Charming and his forces had taken over, and already they had a bunch of citizens captured and imprisoned because of them fighting back, and what is about to be shown is the prime example of how this newly-overturned Duloc worked. It wasn't Charming that was doing the execution this time, but instead, it was one of his knights.

Thrown into one of the smaller houses near Duloc's now blocked off entrance was one man in particular, who had, after Rumpelstiltskin's execution last night in the church, tried to run onto the stage to physically go against Charming. But his knights outnumbered his single status, and to properly enforce the new rules they're throwing onto Charming's Duloc, this man's execution wasn't going to be postponed; instead, they agreed on having him be executed the following morning, which is now, rather than directly after Rumpelstiltskin's execution occurrence.

The knights rushed in and looked down at a man who remained awake all night, in the same clothes he was in when he tried to bash out Charming in the name of his President he and his fellow citizens had elected for when Duloc initially became the 'People's Nation of Duloc'. They grabbed him by his armpits, one by each side, and began dragging his groggy body from the hut into the outside towards a carriage with two horses at the front, to deliver him to the church. When they got outside to the open sunlight, all of Duloc was minding their own business; they couldn't object at all at the actions of their Supreme Leader, which, in this case, is the upcoming execution of this man, who goes by the name of Grandor, so whilst he was being dragged mercilessly, everyone else was super cautious about even LOOKING in the direction of his groggy body being dragged along to the carriage. All of their lives were strictly watched in case of any anti-Charming action, so they were constantly scared, even though, like now, it looked like they were back to their normal selves.

"TODAY WE RISE UP AS A SINGLE PLACE, IN THE FACE OF A NEW ERA AND AN ERADICATION OF THE PAST!" Charming yelled, once again in the church with a couple of high-level looking knights.

The citizens roared with cheers for their lives; they were aware that there was a person being transported here via a carriage for an execution, so they had to applaud everything Charming said in order to stay alive. The atmosphere felt fake, as if there was something behind all of this.

The carriage door had been left open, and once the knights dragged Grandor close enough, they gripped upon his hips and tossed him harshly into the carriage before he sat up. Upon looking back at the open door, one of the knights had ducked in and sent the back of their swords colliding harshly off of the face of Grandor, causing him to fall onto his shoulder on the seat inside. The knight had moved outwards and slammed the carriage door shut to create intimidation for Grandor, before he patted the carriage to signal its permission to leave and head for the church. Grandor was breathing heavily and quietly moaning from the burning sensation he was getting from his nose from the slam of the knight's sword. The person controlling the horses in front had moved his head inwards to give a death stare to Grandor, looking him up and down, before looking back to the horses in front.

"IT IS WITHIN YOUR BEST INTERESTS TO RESPECT ME AND YOUR FORCES FOR OUR LEADERSHIP, AND EVEN MORE SO FOR THE SOLE CREATOR OF DULOC, FAIRY GODMOTHER!" Charming yelled, with the citizens raising up their game each time with their cheers.

They had no choice, either; a random group of citizens were selected every time to be FORCED to go to these executions.

Grandor was being driven past the palm-like trees, where a bunch of families looked reluctant at the sight of the carriage because they didn't want to plant their eyes on it. A group of Charming's knights were running down the path subsequently, in a single file line as they were waving their swords whilst doing so, to maintain a strict, harsh environment upon these people. Eventually, he got to a corner where a group of knights were standing; the citizens didn't seem to walk near there, and rightfully so. One of the knights was firing a crossbow right into the air, intended because all of them are aware that there's somebody in the passing carriage that was about to be executed. Some were casually leaning against the light blue buildings. There appeared to be not one, but two knights controlling the horses moving the carriage along, and Grandor could make out one of them talking to the other, where he was pointing to a couple of buildings; he had no idea what was being said.

"BUT LIKE THE PREVIOUS FAILURES OF LEADERS, THIS PERSON HAS BEEN COLLUDING WITH OUR ENEMIES WHERE HE HAD TRIED TO BRING ME DOWN! THEREFORE, HE IS A TRAITOR TO DULOC!" Charming once again yelled, with his voice echoing across the church where more of the citizens continued to yell and clap as the execution knights were waiting.

They got to an alleyway, where a couple of hiding citizens, upon the sight of the horses and the carriage, busted out from their hiding spots to make a run; some citizens had been hiding out throughout Duloc, due to the terrifying new 'leader' in Charming. They continued to run, eventually getting into tighter, yet darker alleyways amongst this area. The carriage knights controlling the horses didn't seem to be concerned, because those citizens, in their minds, will most likely be found soon. They turned around once again, to a large path right besides the concrete border wall, where a citizen had tripped over JUST as the carriage and the horses were approaching. The horses slowed down, meaning the citizen was able to escape death JUST in time, but again, he's basically been caught out.

"TRAITORS BREED OPPOSITION TO US! AND WE WILL NOT BE OPPOSED!"

Grandor looked out from his window in the carriage and was shocked to see a bunch of citizens being lined up against the buildings, with the knights forcing them to remain in those positions; what did they do wrong? by each sight, he was starting to regret his actions last night even more. Who in their right mind, though, would do what Grandor did when he lives in what is now a heavily controlled dictatorship where everyone is under a strict watch? the carriage was increasing in its speed as the pain in his nose was fading ever so gradually. They got to the 'capital' of Duloc, where it didn't look so normal; citizens were CARRYING CROSSBOWS, firing them at the border wall. Were they being trained to become Charming's knights? or was this another way for Charming to rid his newly-taken kingdom of traitors in collective means?

"BUT THE TIME HAS COME TO SHOW OUR TRUE STRENGTH. TRAITORS WEAKEN US, THEY WANT US TO BE RIPPED APART FROM THE INSIDE, BUT THEY UNDERESTIMATE US, AND MY MOTHER, WHO IS WATCHING OVER HER CREATED KINGDOM. LET US SHOW THAT SHE, AND WE, DO NOT FEAR THEIR BETRAYING TACTICS!"

"WITH OUR NEW START, WE CAN FREE OURSELVES FROM THE PAST, AND WE CAN RESTORE OUR DIGNITY THROUGH VARIOUS MEAAANNNSS!"

All of the citizens in the church gave their loudest cheers, one building up after the other with each sentence Charming was giving. He was fully intent on showing his new side. He's this way not only because of the past, but because he wants to ensure that NOBODY stops him from having power this time; by being this way, and using his 'no mercy' policy, he feels like he can be seen more as a threat to anyone wanting to stop him, and on top of that, impress his mother even further. All of this, in Charming's head, was hopefully going to lead to the ultimate redemption of not just himself, but his mother too, in the form of Shrek being killed in the manner Grandor is about to.

"OUR DIGNITY IS STRONG, AND OUR MOTIVATIONS ARE JUSTIFIED..."

The church was coming up, and Grandor gulped the biggest collection of spit he's ever gulped before. He knew this was it.

"AND AS I SPEAK, OUR FORCES ARE DELIVERING THE TRAITOR IN QUESTION, BY WHICH WE WILL COMMENCE THE START OF REBUILDING WHAT WAS ONCE A GREAT KINGDOM!"

About twenty or so knights had surrounded the entrance to the church, where they were all firing their crossbows up into the air to commemorate a traitor's imminent execution. The carriage came to a doom-defying halt, where one of the knights had slid the door open, before climbing in and forcefully grabbing Grandor by his top to drag him out and onto the floor into the sunlight. When he was down to the floor on his back, a knight had began circling him, looking down at him from inside his helmet, before he took up his metal boot and slammed it directly onto the face of Grandor, knocking him out briefly.

Grandor began regaining his consciousness, feeling his groggy and weak body being dragged again as his legs were scraping the floor. His head was burning with pain as he could hear cheers approaching his ears. The door of the church opened, before he simply couldn't leave his eyes open to the fuzzy vision surrounding everything he looked at. He opened them again, only to find that he was already up on the stage; his brain is clearly going off and on, making it feel as if time was moving quicker. Cheers were fully in the midst of Grandor's ears this time, as he was pushed back against a wooden pole on the stage as Charming stared at him with disgust, moving his eyes up and down at Grandor.

"Mother," Charming said, out loud, "just as this person lays a betraying tactic on you, we will lay his punishment upon him instantly..." he added, before walking up to the knight doing the execution, holding out the crossbow.

Initially, it was pointed right at the knight, making him reluctant, before Charming realized what he was doing. He turned the crossbow back around, where the knight looked more comfortable in taking the crossbow. Once he took the crossbow, he looked to the crowd of citizens in the church seats, before holding up the crossbow in the air as Charming looked to remind them about what this meant.

"This is the start of our rise..." Charming said, where the entire church fell silent.

Grandor was being held tightly in position as the knight carrying the crossbow began making his walk over towards him. His eyes couldn't take themselves off of the crossbow, as he acknowledged that in just an imminent amount of time, he's going to be killed to the blankness and void of death itself, with nothing he can possibly do to change the course of these events. Charming crossed his arms in the background as he watched Grandor with a smug smile. The crossbow was raised up, with the knight aiming it directly at Grandor, before cocking it up with the arrow.

The crossbow fired its arrow with a gigantic thud of a bang upon the pullback of the trigger, claiming Grandor's life mainly in the hands of Prince Charming's new desire to look strong and uphold his 'no mercy' policy to prevent anything like what happened at Far-Far away happening here, just to name one of the reasons why he's doing it this way.


	41. Artie's plan

**CHAPTER 41: Artie's plan**

"Your majesty...how can you possibly think this is a plan that'll work?" Artie's top knight asked, after hearing the plan for taking over Duloc.

"Oh uh, what do you mean?" Arthur asked, gulping.

"We're talking about a kingdom that is, pardon me for a moment, 'far-far-away' from this kingdom. What will we do about supplies, carrying weaponry, and ensuring that we don't starve ourselves? it's flawed..."

Arthur hadn't thought that through. But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. He was standing in the courtyard in the morning light with his top-level knights, as they were trained well with the experience to uphold the positions. As a result, they were more than aware, seemingly more so than their own king, that it's going to be a near impossible mission to get to Duloc all the way from here.

"I never really thought of it that way...well...what if we have some sort of transport...like uh...carriages?"

"Your majesty, carriages can only go at such a speed. We'll need something better...something that'll shorten the time it'd usually take...plus, we don't even know where this Duloc place is?"

"But this doesn't add up, you guys? if Charming could've got near there when we all got rid of him and his mob...who's to say we can't do the same?"

"Sir, if we're being deadly serious here, Charming's forces are probably, exceedingly lackluster. Think about it; he didn't have much to defend anyways, whereas we have an entire collection of forces across Far-Far-away that would need to be fed, watered and kept warm on the journey...Charming probably didn't even consider any of those, so if he has gotten there, the chances are, IF, key word IF, we do get there, the threat will actually be more minimal than what you're proposing to us. In short, your majesty, he paid a huge price for going over there; a weakened collection of inexperienced citizens of ours who probably only got lucky. We can't afford to do that, I'm afraid. It just doesn't seem viable.."

"Ohh, you know, knight? you're probably right...I just...I just don't wanna let Shrek down, you know? I feel like he really wants to meet up with Charming and...after everything he did for me? I just wanna be able to give him back the favour..."

"Your majesty, we're not curbing out this plan at all...far from it, but we just need a viable way of getting there without losing our men from starving to death, or a lack of supplies..."

Arthur needed time to think this through. His knights were, at the end of the day, right. It was bizarre to consider a journey from Far-Far away all the way to Duloc. If he could just think of some sort of transportation or some sort of time-saving thing, then maybe the plan can go down. But if he can't, he genuinely feared that he'd have to abandon the plan all together, which meant that he'd have to live with the guilt of allowing Charming to get his own way with that Duloc place. He was stuttering in his brain for ideas, and nothing he thought of seemed to be viable choices.

Shrek was in the same bedroom he slept in when he first came here to meet Fiona's parents. As Fiona herself was still asleep, with Fergus, Felicia, and Farkle in the other room, Shrek rinsed his face with tap water from the tap itself. As he splashed the warm water across his face, he looked at himself in the mirror; he was an orge in every aspect of the word. He turned the tap off and proceeded to look at himself in the mirror. It made him buzz with energy that he no longer looked like the grumpy old orge he once was when he lived by himself in the swamp, because it made him aware that now, despite everything going on with Charming, he's adapted into a loving father for his kids. When he walked out of the bathroom, a knock gently penetrated through the door, in which Shrek went over to it to open it. It was Arthur.

"Oh uh, you okay, Shrek?" Arthur asked, noticing that Shrek was in his pyjama shorts still.

"Hold on Artie, I'll get changed quickly, I wanna hear what you've came up with, alright?" Shrek said, slowly closing the door to get on his usual orge clothing.

A few minutes later, Shrek was fully dressed, and he opened the door once again to an apprehensive-looking Arthur. Shrek had offered him to come in, in which the king proceeded to do so. He didn't know how to break the news to Shrek, but it at least calmed him that Fiona was still asleep, because he didn't want to potentially upset them with the news.

"Okay, so uh, I've been up for most of the night, talking with the guys who can do what we're aiming for and uh...well..." Artie rubbed the back of his neck as the nerves crawled up to him, "what we're saying is that uh...the biggest obstacle to all of this is the fact that Duloc is so far away, and it's became a concern for us in terms of supplies...how will we get there without my men starving?"

"So we're not going?" Shrek asked.

"Well, interpret that however you want, Shrek...but for the moment, I think we have to call it off..."

"Listen, if Charming could do it, why can't we?"

"Shrek, Charming's band of knights were likely starved during the trip...they'll be weak and deprived of everything...we can't risk that happening to us, surely?"

"Okay then Arthur, if you're not willing to help me out, I'll just get there myself...from Dragon..."

Shrek began walking past Arthur as he didn't seem to be keen on waking Fiona up. He looked pretty angered.

"Woah woah Shrek, hold on for a second...you're not suggesting that you're going to head back there, are you?"

"What if I am?"

"It's...come on, you saw it on Mr Merlin's orb just now...you can't go back to Duloc on your own?!"

"Well if it means that I can get to Charming, then so be it..."

"Shrek...think about your family...do your kids really want you risking your life out there?"

Shrek stopped, as he and Arthur stopped within the hallway. He slowly turned around to face the young king as he was genuinely worried about Shrek's chances against Charming, when he's got an entire kingdom in his hands.

"I care about the well-being of everybody around me, especially my family...Charming kidnapped Felicia, and I could've lost her...not only that, but he's starting to rise up, and I'm not gonna let him get away with everything he's done, or the lives he's potentially affected to a horrific extent. I'm sorry, but I have no choice..." Shrek declared, continuing to walk off with the intent of being flown back to Duloc by 'himself' even though he'll be with Donkey and Dragon.

"W-WAIT, SHREK? SHREK!" Arthur yelled, but to no answer.

Arthur was panicking. He needed to come up with a solution to this entire thing before Shrek finds Dragon and Donkey to get himself back to Duloc.

After a few minutes, Arthur was empty in his mission to quickly scramble up a plan that'll curb the potential of his knights starving to death on the journey to Duloc. What was worse was that now, Shrek was nowhere to be seen; he was fully intent on finding Dragon and Donkey. As Arthur stepped out of the castle, in which Fiona and her kids were still asleep, Arthur's presence was noticed by all of the guarding knights amongst the red path leading to the fountain. They bowed to him and gave their respect, and although it was nice, it didn't make him feel any better about the issue with Shrek. As he walked up the path as some citizens near the fountain were buzzing with excitement at meeting their own king, Arthur stumbled across Mr Merlin, looking pretty down in himself, as he carried a bag that had a similar pattern to his magical robes. He was waiting at the fountain initially, but he began walking once he saw Arthur's presence.

"Hey uh...Mr Merlin?" Arthur said, catching the old wizard by surprise.

"Ohh, listen kiddo, I uh...I just want to say how sorry I am for the botch you and everyone else saw last night...I had no idea what went into my magic...uh, retired magician and all, you know?"

"Oh Mr Merlin, you don't need to apologize...in fact, what you had shown us was helpful in that we're now aware that Charming's running a deadly and merciless place for us to deal with in the uh...hopefully near future..."

"You know? you sound upset. Come on, enlighten a retired wizard before I make my tracks back home?"

"Well at the moment, I'm really lost in what I should do...Shrek is about to leave here for Duloc by that dragon you saw last night...you know Duloc? the place you had shown us on the orb last night? yeah, the guy who's leading that place was the same guy who took over here one time, and was also the guy who performed that show where he was gonna...I guess, kill Shrek. Shrek wants to give him a piece of his own medicine, but I can't let my knights go all the way there when there's the risk of them starving during the journey...I just...I just need a quick and easy way of getting everyone there so we can tackle the dangerous rise once and for all..."

"Ohh...you know, I'd help you if I could...but I'm not much of any use nowadays, as you saw last night, haha...but if it does help, all I can say is that you have my blessing for ridding that guy of his grip over those poor people from my orb...well then...uh, I'll see you again soon, your majesty, kiddo.." Mr Merlin said, preparing to send himself back home from his magical transportation spell.

Arthur's mind suddenly dived back into the past, where he got his answer; Mr Merlin teleported Arthur himself, Shrek, Donkey and Puss back to Far-Far-away that time, right? so what's stopping him from teleporting him again, along with all of his knights, to Duloc?

"Mr Merlin, WAIT! m-maybe you could help us?!" Arthur said, catching Mr Merlin by surprise.

"H-How?"

"You could get us to Duloc, with myself and all of my knights? come on, you could do it before, and you surely can do it again?"

"Oh that was an exception, Arthur...that was only four of you...you're talking about a whole collection of people here...and plus, you saw what happened last night, when I did one of my biggest spells in a long time? you never know...I can't do it..."

Arthur wasn't taking 'no' for an answer. Rather than fake-crying, he was going to come clean about it to Mr Merlin.

"Mr Merlin, you're willing to get rid of this opportunity to free the lives of all of those innocent families at Duloc, then? with them being trapped under Charming's rule? I'm not somebody with a crystal ball who can see other locations, but judging from what we saw last night, Charming's only going to increase the danger...he's most likely making families cry and plead for their lives...and if you don't help us, you'll get rid of any chance we have of saving them...come on...do you really want us to be aware of a growing threat, where Duloc, under Charming, can potentially, and somehow, attack us one day whilst he's making the people of that kingdom suffer? come on, Mr Merlin...p-please? it's important we get this right...p-please?" Arthur begged.

"Well, look, you have to consider an important detail of fact; I'm a retired magician...chances are, if I give this spell to you, there might possibly be some errors like last time..."

"Mr Merlin, errors or not, we need it now, no matter what we may face..."

"Fine...but kid, don't blame me if something goes wrong, okay? you're lucky that you're able to get me to realize the consequences of my initial stance..."

"Well Mr Merlin, this is a pretty serious matter, so I'm glad I did..."

Shrek had stumbled upon Donkey and Dragon, as the two of them were once again by the area near the castle. Donkey was playing with his dronkey kids, as Dragon watched her husband play with them. When they noticed Shrek, Dragon smiled at the orge, as Donkey was distracted by his kids. The citizens of Far-Far away didn't mind them as much, because, again, their king seemed pretty comfortable with having a dragon in the kingdom.

"Hello..." Shrek said, waving at Dragon.

"Donkey?"

"Hold on there, kiddos...howdy Shrek?"

"Uh, I need your wife to take me back to...well, put it this way, we're going back to Duloc..."

Donkey's eyes widened.

"W-Why would you do that? on your own, more or less?!" Donkey exclaimed.

"Yes, because Arthur can't work out a way to get everyone there...so I'm going myself...as long as I can get payback for what Charming did to Felicia and my family's mood, as well as all of those lives in Duloc...I don't care what happens to me..."

"S-Shrek...I-I dunno if ya'll wanna do this..."

"WAIT, SHREK!" Arthur yelled, speedily walking over to Shrek from behind due to the cape.

Shrek sighed, before turning around to a tired-looking Arthur from the catching up he had to do to reach the orge.

"Listen, we've figured something out! Mr Merlin's gonna transport all of the army there, so that means we don't have to worry about supplies or anything! it makes us one step closer!"

"R-Really?" Shrek said, surprised.

"Oh come on, Shrek, you really think I'd let you go back to Duloc on your own? come on, let's go to Mr Merlin..."

This really was a surprise. But it made Shrek happy, nonetheless. Now, his plan of redemption against Charming was a step closer. All he has to do now is ensure that Far-Far away's force, once they get teleported to Duloc, clears out every single aspect of Charming's forces to rid the kingdom of them, and then, it'll be Charming's turn to feel what revenge truly means. Things were about to get intense.


	42. Readying up

**CHAPTER 42: Readying up**

Mr Merlin teleported himself back home after promising to help Artie's Far-Far-away knights, alongside Shrek, get to Duloc to put an end to the deadly Charming dictatorship. Sure, he's got the capability to do the spell, but when you think about it, he only had to deal with Shrek, Artie, Puss and Donkey at the time when he teleported them to Far-Far-away after Artie had faked his cry. But this time? this is a whole infantry of advanced, experienced knights, and Mr Merlin had to warm up the spell in what is, quite honestly, not enough time for tonight, so he can successfully teleport them to a location near the vicinity of Duloc. It was madness, but at least now Artie can claim that he's actually got a solution into dealing with the problem.

"Okay, knights, here's the whole thing shortened; survive by any means necessary, but you also need to ensure that every single aspect of the dictatorship is cleared out. Don't kill Charming on sight, either, because we've got a prosecuting punishment lined up for him that'll perhaps make him change his heart..." Arthur said.

But was that really a good idea? is it not absurd to think that Charming will change his ways if he gets prosecuted and punished, rather than being given the death sentence? plus, he was talking about Charming as if he was a neutral person, and that was never a good sign. Of course, Artie didn't intend for it to sound that way, but it was because of the fact that he still sounded like his nerdy self from the times he was in that high school camp. If he had witnessed not just what he was shown on the orb last night, but everything else Charming's committed, like the merciless massacre to take over Duloc for instance, he'd probably be thinking very differently. Maybe it was a good thing to have Charming captured, alive, so they can get some information out of him, forcefully? it was a mixed bag of choices, but Artie's clearly taking the toned down path, which isn't necessarily bad, but there's a reason to be concerned about this type of stance failing against Charming's murderous traits.

"Your majesty, why are we attacking an innocent kingdom?" one of the knights asked, as they were in formation at the courtyard.

"What? we're not attacking it. We're simply going to rid it of Charming, because he's making those people fear their lives, every time they take a single step...after what we saw last night, don't you think this is the right choice?"

"I'm just saying...when have we ever intervened in business that wasn't ours? this would be the first time and hopefully the last time we do it..."

"You're not killing anybody, but you might have to kill the knights, guard. And on top of that, let me remind you that the knights in control over there, are clearly ones who were never there in the first place. You know what a coup is, right? that's exactly what Charming's done over there, and it's created a harsh dictatorship...our primary goal is to capture the leader of all of this, Charming...okay?"

"Oh-I guess sir, but it'll just be running in my head that-"

"Your majesty, he has a point..." another knight said, "if we're an entirely different kingdom, and they're easily overtaken...is any of this even worth it? what prize will we get? if we do capture Charming, what will be the end result of it all? what if we, should there be a battle, create more causalities of the people living there? is it even in our name or our business?"

"Oh please, you guys, don't make this hard on me...I'm still a new king, just...we just can't let Charming get away with what he's done, and hey, I want to pay Shrek back the favour by doing this with his help...after all, he got me to this position in the first place...I know a king should have the guts to stand up to those who have doubts, but you guys, if we let this happen, we'll be letting more and more citizens of that Duloc kingdom starve to death and be tortured because of Charming, the blood will be all in his hands...I was crowned king with the intent of promoting good deeds...a good deed is NOT letting a guy who at one time, did the same to here, get away with making citizens suffer. I can assure you, his coup of this kingdom was nowhere near as horrific and as cruel as he's doing it now to Duloc..."

"We're not questioning your authority, your majesty, but what we're all saying is that...if we do capture Charming, does he have any backup or supporters who'll simply replicate what he did? he seems to have became a powerful figure in that regard...that's why we're not sure if this is a good idea...alongside some other things?"

"That is a matter that we will deal with once we capture him, firstly. I don't want to sleep at night knowing that I'm allowing him to make people cry for food and be forced to live under his power..."

The knights all nodded at each other, letting go of the concern that maybe, this upcoming intervening of Duloc isn't in their name at all. Arthur, despite being king for this long, still had those moments where he felt like he was being overwhelmed with what was required to be successful in the position. He's a royalty who has a tendency to lose control, or at least, that's what he thinks. At the end of the day, the knights aren't scared to voice their opinions, but still, they'd never disobey the king, no matter how opposed they are to any of his ideas. It boils down to the trait that Far-Far-away has recently upholded proudly; loyalty.

"Fiona?" Shrek said, tapping her on the shoulder gently to wake her up.

Felicia, Fergus and Farkle were all awake, and Shrek was looking after them for a bit before he decided to wake Fiona up. As always, he gave Felicia the most kisses; not out of favouritism, but out of the love he has for his daughter; his fatherly instincts, ever since Felicia was almost lost, had made him protective over her. Fiona began showing some life as she yawned, and opened up her eyes to sit up from the bed in her bed dress. As she sat up, she smiled at the kids, before looking at Shrek.

"Good morning..." she said, wiping her eyes.

"Uh, Fiona, we need to talk about something..." Shrek said, looking uncertain.

"Sure, go ahead? I'm awake bright and early anyways..." Fiona said.

"Okay, well uh, I've spoken to Arthur...we're gonna go back to Duloc and we'll be saving it from Charming...and I'm going, too.."

"Oh, are we? why did-"

"Not 'we' Fiona. I'm going. By myself, alongside Arthur and the rest..."

"Wait?" Fiona suddenly sounded more awake in her voice, "S-Shrek, what for? you don't have to?"

"I don't have to, Fiona, but I want to. Listen, it's obvious that I'm the one that Charming wants the most. I'll be going there to not only make him run out of his hidey hole quicker, I'll also be there to hopefully face him face-to-face...no matter what's happened over the passing few days, I can't let him get away with everything he's done...not just to me, or you...but Felicia too.."

"No, Shrek, you're talking nonsense, you're not going, you can't, surely? so you're putting yourself up as bait, basically?!"

"If it means Charming is lured out quicker, then yeah, I am. He wants me, so he's gonna get me, but trust me Fiona, if things go our way, it'll be the last thing he ever hoped for..."

Fiona looked down at the floor as she sat on the side of the bed. Luckily, the kids were too distracted together to overhear what was being discussed.

"B-But how, how are you even going to get there?"

"That Merlin guy from last night, you know, the old wizard? he's gonna transfer me alongside Arthur and his knights to Duloc, where we'll make Charming run out of his hiding spot, sounds smart, doesn't it?"

Fiona didn't like this a single bit; Shrek was seriously talking about stepping into the territory of a guy who at one time, tried to impersonate Shrek when Fiona herself was in human form during Fairy Godmother's attempt to get Charming with her. Not only that, but Charming's shown that he's became much more ruthless than before, and the loss of his mother had contributed to that even before he started building up his own regime. She didn't want Shrek risking his life.

"Sh-Shrek..." Fiona knew that she couldn't realistically stop Shrek from doing it, but she was incredibly apprehensive for him, as the morning sun was shining through the windows, "I...I'm scared, you know? what if..."

"Just remember, Fiona, that I'll be under the protection of Arthur's knights. I doubt Charming will put up much of a fight against me anyways, you saw how easy it was for me to pick him up, didn't you?"

"Shrek...let's just put this into perspective, okay? you're talking about him as if he's gonna be easy to get, but do you not remember, back at Duloc, how he was? he had a whole group of knights, and he had that little guy chained up like a pet...you know, the one we saw last night being uh...god, that was such a horrifying sight...uh...Rumpelstiltskin I think it was, so are you still wanting to do this?"

"Call me stubborn if you want Fiona, but I'm not letting Charming harm our family...I've already said that I should've forgiven Rumpelstiltskin before he was mercilessly decapitated, but I'm doing this as a vengeance sort of uh...thing. Listen, once this is all over, we can go back to the swamp, and we can continue on with our regular lives. If I don't deal with Charming alongside Arthur, will we ever return to our lives? I failed us as a family once, but there's no way I'm failing us again..."

Fiona's eyes began watering up. She placed her green orge hands against her face. Shrek sat down on the bed besides her, as he placed his hand around her back. Fergus, Farkle and Felicia all realized that their mother was suddenly crying, and it made them silent completely, as if they weren't even there. As Fiona was weeping in sadness amongst her palms as the tears did tiny paths down her cheeks, Shrek felt his heart break. He didn't expect this type of reaction.

"I-I can't imagine the thought of you not being with us anymore, Shrek..." Fiona struggled, as she continued to quietly cry.

"Oh Fiona, it'll be okay, honestly...d-don't make me feel this way..."

This reaction had proven the main point of Shrek, however; if it wasn't for Charming, this type of mood amongst Shrek's family wouldn't be happening. It's Charming who's caused Fiona to react this way, because he's the threat that she fears will attack her husband. The more Shrek thought about it, the more he wanted to say it, but he didn't actually end up saying it, in the fear that it might upset Fiona even more.

"I'm doing this because I need to show that I can be somebody better than what I've shown in the past, okay? I'm a father, I can't just let him get away with this...but it's not just that, Fiona, it's everything else he's done...I need to save those people...whether or not I know them isn't important...we all have layers, you know? as orges?" Shrek said, hugging Fiona from the side.

Fiona raised her head up off of her hands and looked at Shrek with teary eyes. She looked at Shrek as she wiped her eyes. Upon hearing what Shrek had said, she seemed to calm down a bit, looking somewhat proud in the midst of her saddened state at her husband's motivation.

"Shrek...do you mean that?" she asked, trembling in her voice.

"Yes...and I want what's best for all of you, too...you're my family..."

"Shrek...just one thing..." Fiona said, as all of the kids moved up to her knees, feeling worried about their mother crying. "When you find Charming...don't hold back..."

Shrek nodded at Fiona's comment, and the two of them hugged each other; she was crying just now because of the fear of Shrek potentially being 'defeated' to use less-explicit terms, but hearing his motivation and his passion to do it, she gained comfort in it, and she too acknowledged that this was all happening because of Charming.

"I won't, Fiona..." Shrek said, with a confirmation-sounding tone.


	43. Backup route

**CHAPTER 43: Backup route**

Even with his 'no mercy' policy in place, Prince Charming was still fearing that he'd somehow be toppled one day by another force. He himself has acknowledged that, finding it this easy to hold power over a new kingdom and its people, it's perhaps been too easy. He's tried to tell himself and his mother, Fairy Godmother, that nobody will stop him like they did in Far-Far-away, but he secretly had that apprehension in his head. Therefore, he wanted to come up with a backup plan that'll ensure that he can escape with ease so he won't be captured, and then, he'll have the chance to rebuild himself to the point that he'll be just as strong as he is now, maybe even stronger. He didn't care what it'd cost, whether it'd be even more lives, or the destruction of places; as long as he can be safely secure in his own personal grip of power, he'd be happy to sprint his way through thousands, or even tens of thousands of lives to accomplish that.

He was heading to a small blue building near the blocked off entrance in 'his' kingdom of Duloc, where, as he was walking amongst his guards, he was being followed exceedingly by the Duloc citizens, as they were putting on fake cries and shoving each other to be in the presence of their 'Supreme Leader'. It was heartbreaking, really. All of these people have been forced to act this way, otherwise they'll all be facing deadly fates. Charming didn't even pay any attention to them, either. He only cared that he's got the ultimate power and grip over their lives, which, upon thinking about it, made him feel more and more accomplished, especially for 'impressing his mother' as he's claimed to have done already. The roars of the citizens were reminiscent of a full stadium, it was that dramatic, but what choice did they have? they HAD to respect their 'Supreme Leader' in this manner.

"Guards, lead the way..." Charming said, gesturing for them to open the door for him.

They obliged instantly. He was going here with the intent of negotiating a backup plan in case he'll be attacked by any outsiders. They were calling the plan, upon coming up with a foundation for it (the details have yet to be spoken about) 'Operation False-lead'. Whatever that meant was uncertain, but soon enough, Charming and his dictatorship crew were about to find out for themselves. They walked through, as Charming's insides tingled at the excitement of all of those people admiring him like a god in their gigantic numbers. He felt like he could do ANYTHING here and he'd get away with it; his favorite aspect of being a dictator, apart from showing his strength by punishing anybody who talks him down in the SLIGHTEST, like he did with that guy earlier this morning when he was executed. Two guards stood outside the building as Charming entered; they'd do anything to ensure his safety, so they were willing to cope with the forced and clearly faked cheers and roars of the citizens, who're 'so desperate' to even touch their so-called 'Supreme Leader'.

They all sat around a small brown table in the darkness. This building was fairly old, but it was Charming's building for top-secret negotiations, something he concluded on when he toured around Duloc as its new 'leader' yesterday after the invasion, the invasion in which he murdered numerous people and families alongside his knights to gain control of this place.

"Alright, let's be clear here; we're probably expecting some sort of clash between ourselves and another force...I don't know when, or if one will even happen, but we need a plan for this, and guards, you've already given me a name. What's to it, then?" Charming asked, with his voice in its most command-sounding tone, a trend that he's done during the time he's built up his regime to this point.

"Okay, Chairman Charming, this is what I've got in mind. Should those forces enter their way into OUR territory, the operation title speaks for itself; we'll create a false-lead. One of the other knights, sir, will be heavily protected, and then this'll give the impression to the enemy that it's YOU, even though it isn't. By using this tactic, we can lure them into Duloc whilst you're hiding out, and then when they're all inside further, we can evacuate you and get you to a safe location..."

"Splendid, just splendid, you need a gold medal for that, don't you? seriously, though, there's something else I want from this; I don't want all of those walking puppets out there to think that this'll be the last of me. I want to leave a lasting message to them if I'm to evacuate..." Charming said, with the complicated idea confusing the guards all around him.

The knights all looked up at the roof and around the isolated room, trying to think of something alongside those lines. Charming, though, came up with something even more genius for that idea, and it's something that won't even be done by HIM, but instead, by the forces trying to capture him.

"That everlasting message, guards, won't be done by me...it'll be done by all of the fools who'll be trying to capture and find me. You see, they'll try and shoot me, right? well, we'll simply get them to fire as much as possible across this place...thereby potentially causing more and more causalities...that, my friends, is how we will fully leave our mark on this place..." Charming declared.

"S-Sir, really? you're willing to go overboard with this? it's just a simple evacuation...you don't need to 'leave your mark'..." one of the knights said, cementing, however, the biggest mistake of his life.

Charming and the other knights looked up at him with blank stares. All Charming did, as a response, however, was chuckle at him. The other knights simply stared, and this wasn't a good sign at all. The knight who said that Charming was going overboard had suddenly stepped back slowly, wanting to take back what he said upon the deadly sight he had just seen with all of the threatening stares.

"I-I take it back, I'm sorry..."

Charming's idea of one of his own knights flirting with the idea of defying his ideas had made him angered; he wasn't letting that one go. He won't deal with it now, but soon, he'll deal with it when the time is right.

"Anyways...you're all clear to leave...I just...I need to think about this thoroughly...remember, we're gonna make them do the damage for me should anything happen..." Charming said, gesturing for them to get out of the negotiating building.

They all obliged. One by one, they proceeded to step out to the outside, where the citizens were still roaring for their 'leader' for their lives. Once the door shut, Charming stood up, and placed his hands against his face. Upon taking them off, he began huffing as he could feel his anger finally unleash itself from inside. He took a hold of the small brown table and harshly flipped it onto its top, sending a huge thud across the room. Charming began pacing around the room as he covered his gritting teeth by once again moving his palms onto his face. He was angry because of one thing; Shrek hasn't came back yet.

"RARGH! WHERE IS HE?!" Charming yelled, taking a hold of the table's legs to lift it up from the floor, sending it against the wall of the building.

A bit of dust had dropped from the top of the inside upon the table's collision with the wall. Charming let the leg snap off, and he threw it across. He was raging with anger at the moment because of the main thing he wants to accomplish out of all; end Shrek, but the orge hasn't even came back. That's not the entirety of it, either; Charming genuinely wants Shrek to see just how powerful he's became, and by the orge seemingly not returning, Charming won't be able to accomplish that. It made him even angrier thinking about it due to his vindictive nature against the orge due to him stopping Charming himself in the past, alongside many other occurrences from the past. Notably, when the tower fell over his body back at Far-Far-away.

"You can hide, but you can't hide forever, Shrek...come out and play, and I'll show you what 'working on my aim' has led me to..."

Charming suddenly began crying, not out of the sadness, but out of the anger.

"Mum...w-what else can I do? if I don't get to him, I won't feel like I've avenged you or myself...I just...I just need him...please mother...if you can hear me, please make Shrek come back...I've been a good boy by doing all of this...just for you and me...we've nearly done it, but we need to do the final thing to solidify it all...end that catastrophic green thing forever...I'm sorry mum, I'm not sad...I'm just angry because I can't fully accomplish OUR goals without Shrek here...I love you...and I'll continue to do you proud with my biggest efforts...I am NOT...NOT NOT NOT, letting my revenge plan go useless..." Charming pleaded, wiping the tears of anger from his face.

This was it; Prince Charming was pretty much the same before, but now, with his backup plan in place in the event of an unlikely attack, and his full desire into luring Shrek back here to kill him to 'avenge mummy' as he calls it, alongside himself, he's willing to get through any obstacle to get that done. He'd kill as many people as possible, and he'd be as destructive as possible to get it done. In regards to the knight who had tried to call his plan an 'overreaction', Charming's next target was him, the start of his entire secretive plan to gradually execute his own knights so they don't get any of his power, even though he needs them to survive an attack.

About half an hour later, the knight in question who had called the plan an 'overreaction' was in the old governing castle, where he was suddenly held against one of the stone pillars of the inside. His name was Gargano, and he had no idea why his fellow knights were suddenly tackling him as if he was an enemy. He was forcefully removed from his knight gear, apart from the plate legs, to unveil his head and his torso. He was panicking, and he tried to ask his fellow knights why they were doing this, but they let off not a single response. Then, the voice of doom suddenly came into his ears, as Charming was walking with his arms behind his back, with a hidden crossbow.

"I know what you are..." Charming's smooth, yet threatening voice said, causing Gragano to look at Charming's approaching body from the darkness of this room of the castle.

It sent chills; why was his own leader suddenly treating him like an enemy?

"I know what you stand for...it's like I said before we took over, I'll repeat it again...my ally? my knight? no no, my betrayer...my actions are historical...we're vindictive, we're merciless, and nothing can stop us...and no...not even your weakness..." he said, slowly unveiling the crossbow from behind, aiming it precisely for the belly of Gargano.

Gargano remembered; this was all because of the fact that he called the backup plan earlier on an 'overreaction'. He gulped, for it dawned on him that this guy wasn't a dear leader, but instead, a ruthless, deadly, dangerous man with the intent of causing harm to prevent anybody stopping him. He KNEW it was a mistake from the start to support him. Charming's fingers suddenly pulled back on the trigger.

The arrow impaled the belly of Gargano, causing him to collapse to his knees, before dropping down to his sides on the floor. Charming had a raised eyebrow expression the entire time, and when Gargano dropped as all of the blood started rushing out from the area the arrow impaled, in the midst of the death-like pain, Charming simply stepped over his fallen body, as did the other knights, to leave him suffering in a state where he'll be losing a dangerous amount of blood; he, in his head, deserved this, and he felt like he deserved to die for serving this murderous, evil being in the first place. The pain was too much, a ton of blood was rushing out, and Gargano was gradually starting to feel the end crawling up to him.


	44. Magical warning

**CHAPTER 44: Magical warning**

Standing in the courtyard, Shrek and King Arthur were ahead of a large collection of Far-Far-away knights, some holding steel shields, and some holding blades that were dwarfing the ones Charming's knights had. Mr Merlin realized one thing, if he casts a spell of this magnitude: if he does it, his magical ability will vanish, because of how powerful it'll be to transfer this many people to a location for a wizard who's been retired for this long. What this meant was that once Shrek, Arthur, and all of Arthur's knights are teleported, they won't be able to return to Far-Far away by magic. They'll either have to walk back, or they'll have to simply wait for somebody to turn up. The risk was worth it, though. It's better to basically be stranded when you have the chance to get rid of a dictator of a kingdom.

It was starting to get dark, after a full day of negotiations and preparations. Shrek was secretly unsure about what to expect, but all he cares about is getting his hands on Charming, and when he does, that's when he can conclusively say that he's done what he intended on doing.

"Now then, uh, pardon me for a moment..." Mr Merlin said, scrambling off to prepare his magical skills for this powerful spell.

Shrek and Arthur looked at each other, gulping. The knights were secretly on edge with their own king joining in, but he clearly had a purpose for doing it, so they didn't question it. As Shrek and Arthur were about to talk, everybody had suddenly descended upon the courtyard, with Fiona emerging from the castle. Dragon, Donkey and the rest had emerged from elsewhere within Far-Far away.

"Shrek?" Donkey asked, "are you really doing this?"

"Aye, Donkey, me and Arthur here are going..." Shrek said.

"Whatever happens out there, Shrek, please don't do anything stupid...we have three kids we need to look after, and I'm sure, when Felicia's older, she'll remember what you've done for her?" Fiona claimed, wanting to give her husband even more motivation.

"Fiona, it won't be a problem for me to get Charming's payback delivered to him, I'll be fine..."

"But Shrek, do you not remember what we saw? ya'll be crazy if you think that you can just-"

"Donkey, I just need time to focus on what's ahead, alright? just...kindly asking you as a friend here, could you maybe tone down your voice?"

"AHEM! UH, EXCUSE ME?!" A small, weak voice yelled from the direction of the ground.

Of anybody to turn up at a time like this, nobody expected Gingy. He's been here ever since Farkle's birthday party some time ago, for obvious reasons, meaning he's completely out of the blue on everything that's happened. Shrek and Arthur looked down at him in a surprised fashion, especially Arthur.

"Okay then Arthur, are we going now?" Shrek jokingly laughed.

"H-Hold on Shrek, we need to wait for Mr Merlin to prepare whatever he has to do...but uh...how do you all here..." Arthur looked at everyone, from Dragon, to Pinocchio, to Donkey, to Puss, to Gingy, and to pretty much everybody else here as all of the knights were readying themselves for what should be a battle, "feel about this?"

"I think I can speak on behalf of everyone here when I say that we're worried, deep down, about you two..." Fiona said, "but if it means we can return to our old lives and not worry about Charming ever again, then I guess it's something that needs to be done..."

"I'll brief the knights when we get there, Shrek..." Arthur claimed.

"Wait, what?! WHAT?!" Gingy's obnoxious voice yelled.

"C-Can we eat this?" Arthur asked, kneeling down to pick up Gingy, in which he instantly began panicking.

"NO NO, YOU CAN'T EAT ME!"

"O-Oh, uh..." Arthur stuttered.

"It happens, Arthur. Gingy, this is a serious moment for the two of us, can you just not be as loud as you usually are? I've got my kids worried about me here, and the last thing I want is for them to hear you screaming all the time, okay?"

"Oh, okay Shrek! sorry!" Gingy said, jumping off of Arthur's hand to run back off into the direction of Pinocchio.

Dragon let off a brief, positive-sounding roar as she nodded. She'd have given the two of them a ride back to Duloc herself if it wasn't for the risk of Charming's knights firing her with multiple crossbows. Donkey nodded at his wife's attitude, and Shrek and Arthur both put their thumbs up to her.

"Uh, shall we get going, then, sir?" a knight had asked Arthur, approaching him from behind.

"Hold on for a moment, he'll be back in a moment, uh, Mr Merlin that is..." Arthur said, with the knight nodding at his king's comment, moving back to the other knights.

"Arthur, shall I take over whilst you're gone? we can't have a kingdom without somebody running it, now can we?" Lillian offered, walking out from everyone.

"Oh, sure! it should be a fairly short task for us anyways, but I actually forgot about that! sure, you run Far-Far-away whilst me and Shrek here do what we should've ideally done earlier. Just thinking about it, Shrek, imagine if we had done this earlier? this entire situation wouldn't have escalated at the pace it has..."

The sight everyone was dreading, whilst some were waiting for; Mr Merlin had returned, after a few moments preparing his skills. In the midst of his preparation, however, he felt that he could do something even better, particularly for Shrek. As he adjusted his long white beard as all of the eyes were planted on his old body, Mr Merlin looked at Shrek in particular.

"Shrek my boy, come on over here for a moment..." Mr Merlin said, with Fiona and the kids following Shrek instantly.

"Now then, I ought to tell you that, since I'm basically draining my magical portions for this, I may as well use up one of my other spells too. What do you say I cast you a communication spell, where you'll, assuming things will go well in my old useless magical self, be able to talk with this Charming fellow-"

"Do it, Mr Merlin, please do it..." Shrek said, wanting this opportunity the second he had heard it, not just for himself and Arthur, but for everyone else, just so they can get an insight into who they're dealing with. They obviously remember Prince Charming from the past, but Shrek wanted them all to hear just how much he's changed.

It'll be chilling to hear the voice of somebody who's murdered innocent people and on top of that, became a dictator hell bent on tightly controlling the lives of people to cement his power. Nonetheless, Shrek wanted to make Charming regret everything he's done in a verbal manner, before he takes it to a physical state in the form of invading Duloc to rid it of Charming himself. What he wasn't aware of, though, was that he's basically giving Charming a head start in preparing; if he didn't do this communication spell, then Charming wouldn't know that there's an attack incoming, but the heat of the moment, and the opportunistic excitement had made Shrek's head get in the way of all of the logic of that.

"Now then, this spell should instantly direct itself into the room Charming may or may not be in at the moment, and if he isn't, then it'll simply track him to any object nearby, or even a plant, that'll communicate our voices to him...are you ready, orge?" Mr Merlin asked.

"Go ahead...Arthur, get ready for this..." Shrek said.

Mr Merlin rubbed his hands, before pointing all of his fingers downwards to the ground. Suddenly, a tiny thunderous sound had emerged, in which a long line of cyan was emerging from Mr Merlin's fingers, to create a medium cloud of cyan on the ground; Mr Merlin moved his fingers back to their normal selves as the Cyan cloud remained on the ground; this was Shrek's source of talking to Charming.

"PSST, talk into it...and DON'T step on it!" Mr Merlin said, "you've got about two minutes with this thing, so whilst it's here, say anything into it! it should have automatically linked itself to the vicinity that this Charming chap may be in..." Mr Merlin whispered.

Shrek cleared his throat, and gulped at the thought of actually talking to Charming.

"Knights, listen closely...this man you're about to hear is our target...just try and pay attention, maybe he can unintentionally give us some crucial details we'll need in the future..." Arthur said, as all the knights nodded.

Dragon, Pinocchio, Gingy, Felicia, Fergus, Farkle, Puss, Donkey and even the Three Little Pigs had shut themselves up; they too wanted to hear Charming's voice after all of this time. Gingy was still clueless on what was going on, but he had it in his biscuit head that if Charming''s involved, it's something not good, to say the least.

"H-Hello?" Shrek said, towards the cloud.

 _"H-Huh? who's this?" Charming said, with his voice echoing from the cloud. Charming stumbled around the room he was in, surprised to hear a voice appear from within the air, but of course, being the type of person he is, he didn't freak out over it; instead, he continued to let it go as if it was an everyday occurrence._

Shrek and everyone gained goosebumps; it...it was ACTUALLY CHARMING, and it was as chilling as ever, after everything he's done. They kept themselves quiet, though, as Mr Merlin kept checking his old-fashioned watch for how long the magical communication spell has until the cloud dissipates.

"Take a guess, Charming...we're coming for ya..." Shrek said.

 _It instantly dawned on Charming, "Oh, Sh-aha, Shreeekkkkk...I have no idea how you're doing this, but if you're supposedly 'coming for me', have you not heard? I accomplished my mission ages ago..."_

"Yeah? well my mission ends with you..."

 _"I've took over Duloc and I control all of its people...it's only a matter of time until I do the same to you, with the key difference being that the end result will be me stuffing your head over the fireplace in this rather warm castle. Come out to 'play', I really want you to see me, Shrek...you'll soon realize that all of your lucky tactics against me were useless, and you thought I was done at Far-Far away? I'm the Supreme Leader here, but my culmination of my goal is just starting...by all means, pay us a visit, I have a good surprise for you..."_

"You won't have to look far...I'm already on my way...you think you can get away with what you've done? you'll get what's coming to you, Charming, don't underestimate me...you STOLE Felicia, and you act all smug about it, but when we're there, you'll wish you had never done it..." Shrek said, getting angered by the minute at the thought of Charming kidnapping Felicia, even more so now since he's actually talking to him for real.

 _"..."_

"Charming?! CHARMING?!" Shrek raged.

 _There was nothing. Pure silence from Charming's end._

"LISTEN, you're a coward. I'm about to say this: Rumpelstiltskin had more dignity than you'll ever have. He SAVED Felicia from you, and look at you, you're silent now because you know that you're a blowhard who'd collapse at the first sign of physicality. Come out from the shadows, you HORRIBLE, POSH JACKASS!"

 _"..."_

Shrek was getting worked up simply at Charming's silence. It truly was an indication as to how much hatred he's gained for him.

"Playing the silence game because you know it's the reality, Charming. He actually CHANGED for the better, and what are you? the same old king wanna-be. But now, you've became a coward. You've became nothing more than a murderous coward, Charming, and if you'd have been this way when you tried to overtake here, your time would've been up instantly...I might not have seen what you've done over these months, but I certainly saw an example of it last night, and I've been told about what you HAVE done...coward...COWARD, DO YOU HEAR ME?!" Shrek once again said, before he finally got a response.

 _"You really think I cared about him? he helped me, Shrek, with all of this at the start, and you're still putting your head into his backside I see. Let's face it, I wasn't gonna let him threaten my intentions with his contracts, and I won't let you do the same. You're more hypocritical than I thought; was it not him who also tried to kill you at one point? not very...likable, are you, Shrek? your hypocrisy is astonishing...but was I honestly expecting any better from an orge?"_

"Talk tough and cocky all you want, Charming, because we'll be on your path faster than you can EXPECT!"

The cloud was starting to break apart, but Charming managed to get the last word in.

 _"Haha, utterly despicable...I'm looking forward to seeing you..." Charming said, with his voice sounding like it was breaking apart; the magic was fading away, which meant the cloud was too._

"CHARMING, I-" the cloud had dissipated completely, vanishing into thin air.

"Sorry, Shrek...that's all my magic gone from that one..." Mr Merlin said.

"D-Did you hear that?!" Shrek exclaimed.

"There's no more time...we need to get going..." Arthur said.

Everybody was shocked to hear Charming's voice in person; he sounded like somebody who could convince ANYBODY that the sky was green, he sounded that smooth and threatening. It was a passive-aggressive like tone, something that clearly gives him a serious type of persona.

"Please, Shrek...be careful...he sounds as frightening as ever..." Fiona pleaded, in which everyone else, including Gingy and Dragon, had nodded at her comment.

**CHARMING IS INSIDE THE DULOC CASTLE**

He had no idea how he heard Shrek's voice just now, but it prompted him with excitement; he literally CANNOT WAIT for Shrek to see how powerful he's become, before he goes for the kill on the orge. But then again, Charming's secret fears had became a reality; just as he was fearing that he was perhaps going to be attacked, he's basically been warned by Shrek that he and whatever force is with him is coming to Duloc to rid it of Charming himself. Prince Charming ventured off to his knights, to get everything ready for an imminent attack; not that he knew when Shrek and the forces may strike, but now, Charming has more reason to armour up Duloc than ever; it was time to do the ultimate goal of his to impress and avenge his mother, and himself for the failures he's suffered; kill Shrek, and cement his place in power.

**MR MERLIN IS ABOUT TO SEND THEM ALL OFF**

"N-Now I do want to warn you all...that this spell of mine is so powerful for a retired magician like myself, that my magical abilities will vanish...you won't be able to return here unless you dare walk back...I'm sorry, but I can't do anything about it...are you ready?" he said, cracking his fingers.

Arthur and Shrek nodded, in which all of the knights were uncertain about how this would work. Everyone, including Shrek's family, watched on with intensity as it dawned on them that Shrek and Arthur in particular will basically be trapped at Duloc after this, but it's for a good cause. Shrek looked at Fiona from the corner of his eye as Felicia, Fergus and Farkle watched on. The more he looked at them, the more determination he was generating to get to Charming and put an end to this madness once and for all.

Mr Merlin moved his arms out as he took to a squat-like position; his hands opened up, as they began shaking like thin twigs on a windy day. Shrek and Arthur closed their eyes, as they could sense that the cyan lightening of the spell was coming out; Mr Merlin himself was propelled into the air slightly, dropping to his back, as the thunderous sound began emitting the air, in which one gigantic collection of cyan lightning had surrounded the entirety and vicinity of Arthur, Shrek and all the knights, before a sudden, volcano-erupting-like bang had emerged, where, upon the sound making its presence known to the ears of everybody, the knights, Arthur, and Shrek had all disappeared into the thin air.

Mr Merlin was on his back, as he looked at his fingers; burning smoke had began emerging from the tips, and he even felt empty inside; his magical skills were now extinct, due to casting a spell of this magnitude. Fiona and the rest all suddenly began feeling their hearts race in their pumps; Shrek's gone, as was Arthur, and as soon as they acknowledged that, they were all worried to the point that they were considering finding their own way of getting to Duloc.

It was time. If they don't succeed with this 'overtaking the dictatorship' goal, Charming will be able to remain in power, thereby punishing the people with his ruthless and murderous traits, whilst also having the desire to annex the land nearby, and eventually, try and attack Far-Far away. Plus, the swamp will be too dangerous to live in if they fail to stop Charming. Shrek's doing this not only because of what Charming did to Felicia, but also because of everything he's been told about Charming; the two of them have history, notably in Far-Far away, but this was a different Charming; they HAD to stop him, or else they'll risk letting a cruel dictatorship expand. Shrek's usually frowned upon for being an orge, but he had a heart, which is evident now, with his intent of not just giving Charming payback, but also saving the people suffering because of him, and avenging the people he has made suffer in the past with his regime build-up. With Merlin's magic officially extinct, the time was now to get serious. In short, it's now or never.


	45. Final straw

**CHAPTER 45: Final straw**

It was cold...dark, but the light from Duloc nearby had given Shrek, Arthur, and all of the knights, who were tapping their helmets to ready themselves up, some slight relief. The knights had eaten before they were teleported here just now, and on their priority list, it was to not only capture Charming, but to also protect their King, Arthur. They were still slightly unsure as to why he had tagged along, but he clearly had his reasons for doing it. As they were slowly walking amongst the darkness and the sunflower field near Duloc, one distinguishable figure, amongst various knights of his own, had walked out from the entrance of Duloc; it's been unblocked temporarily by them, and the figure in particular was none other than Prince Charming himself.

"DUCK DOWN!" one of the knights commanded, so they wouldn't be seen by Charming or any of his knights, for now, anyways.

They studied the body language of Prince Charming in particular as he was talking with one of his knights; he seemed to be looking ahead and around the sunflower field, before looking upwards at the border wall of Duloc. He seemed paranoid-looking.

"Looks like they know something's up..."

"I've got a good view of them from here, Charming's right there, with some armoured up folks..."

"This is it...we don't leave here without Charming..." Arthur said, as Shrek was filling up with a desire to just run at him now, but he was aware that it was far too risky.

Prince Charming made a pointing gesture towards all of the ducked knights in the sunflower field as the moon started rising up for the night. After he made that point, Charming moved backwards into the official territory of Duloc, leaving the entrance open however, as all of the knights who had just spoken with him turned their eyes to the sunflower field; this made some of Arthur's knights tempted to stand up and reveal themselves, as it seemed to be the case that the enemy knights over there know of their presence.

"Your majesty, quickly come behind us..." the leading knight said, in which Arthur had nodded, "orge, do you wanna do the same?"

"I wanna be in the front row for when we get to him.." Shrek declared.

"Right guys, they're onto us, right on schedule...you all ready?" the leading knight once again asked, as the enemy knights seemed to be marching suspiciously directly in line with where Arthur's knights were ducked down.

"This is for you, Felicia..." Shrek whispered.

They leaped up from the sunflower fields and began their march towards Duloc. Shrek and Arthur led the front, as they could see the knights ahead charging, full steam, towards their direction. Shrek couldn't wait to throw them around like ragdolls, similar to how he did it when Farquaad ordered his tournament knights to kill him to be named the champion of the thing at the time.

"YOUR MAJESTY! GET BEHIND US! INCOMING!" the leading knight yelled, as the gap had suddenly closed between Arthur's knights and Charming's knights.

Arthur stumbled and rushed to the back of the knights as the collision had begun; swords were scraping off each other, armour was being scratched as a result, and the knights were full intent on causing harm to one another for their respective motivations, and Shrek wasted no time in making his part known in this initial part of the mission. This was personal to him. He's willing to do this for as long as it'll take, if it means he can successfully get his hands on Charming.

No crossbows were in the grasp of these knights, so that meant that Shrek could just run on out to them and assist Arthur's knights as the atmosphere became intense and sweaty. He took ahold of two of them trying to swipe their swords into his grasp, and held them both up by their chests, before tossing them into the air and harshly down onto the concrete. Despite their armour, Shrek's throw was that powerful, they were instantly rendered unable to get up.

One of Arthur's knights had dropped his sword, so he had to use his fists to get the upper hand against this Charming knight. Their inexperience meant that they couldn't swipe their swords to the maximum, so in this case, the knight was able to use his experience and flexibility to duck and dodge the sword, before shoving it out of the grasp. He pounced down onto the Charming knight to unleash his fists against him. By each fist, the sound of metal banging had brought its main delivery of pain to the knight, in which he was eventually knocked out. Sooner than later, these initial knights were out, and cleared.

"W-WOW...HE...HE'S TRULY GOT A FORCE WITH HIM?" Arthur exclaimed, horrified and disturbed by witnessing a battle in person; he kept telling himself though that it was for a good cause.

"IT WON'T HELP HIM, ARTIE...IT REALLY, REALLY, REALLY WON'T..." Shrek replied, in the midst of the knights, sounding worked up and bothered; he didn't feel this way before, but for some reason, he had a sense of hatred inside himself; this was because he wanted to just bash his way through these weak knights to get to Charming.

"TWO CARRIAGES COMING IN AT TEN O CLOCK!" the leading knight said, "DON'T HOLD BACK!"

The carriages, with horses, had came to a halt besides one another just ahead of the entrance, where the hatches had all opened, in which the knights had unveiled themselves with yet again, even more swords. This was becoming more and more intense by the minute. They all charged out for Shrek and the Far-Far away knights, holding their swords up as they yelled out their roars of battle. It was a relieve that so far, none of the crossbow knights that they were fearing had appeared. The knights collided on both sides, with Shrek once again ragdolling Charming's knights, like little kids. They simply didn't have the strength to hold their swords up high enough to properly swipe at the orge.

"KEEP AT IT, KNIGHTS, WE CAN DO THIS!" Arthur screamed, feeling secretly uncomfortable at being surrounded by a battle environment.

The knights overwhelmed Charming's ones from their experience, their armour, and their strength; after all, Charming's knights were quickly recruited, with Charming not considering how experienced they may or may not be. From this battle so far, it's been Charming's key to the ultimate doom so far. The horses had suddenly charged off, with their hooves echoing loudly, at the sight of the knights doing battle, and the loud screams and yells of pain had spooked them. Shrek and the rest had held onto their chests as the fast pace was starting to already get to them.

"DON'T LET UP, MOVE ON!"

"Your majesty, are you okay?" one of the knights asked, as they marched slowly towards Duloc.

"I-I don't know if I can be around this type of environment...you guards go without me..."

"W-Wait what? Arthur? this isn't the time to moan, WE'RE ABOUT TO BE ATT-" Shrek yelled, before Arthur cut in.

"I'm sorry, Shrek, but I promise you, I won't go far, I'll be waiting RIGHT here, okay? I feel uncomfortable...and to be honest, I only came because I thought we wouldn't have to-"

"Your majesty, time is of the essence, there's citizens screaming everywhere beyond here, are you coming or not?"

"Guard, go without me. Shrek, when you get Charming, meet me back here..."

"Fine then, go and sit in a corner, I'll deal with Charming myself..." Shrek declared, walking on with the knights.

Arthur Pendragon was always somebody who didn't like violence, so it was no surprise really as to why he's decided to not enter Duloc with his own forces. The night time was here, which had set the tone for a depressing mood, but they have to curb that depression aside in order to get to the dictator.

"Be careful now, mind all the citizens..." the leading knight said, walking into Duloc.

They walked in slowly, to a sight of shock; all of the citizens were running around, screaming and yelling as it dawned on them that they were being 'attacked' once again, except this time, these knights were here to SAVE their lives. Shrek took the front, as he had a couple of scratch marks on his clothing, particularly his arm section, from one of Charming's knights just now.

"Do you see Charming?!" Shrek asked them.

"Last time we did, orge, he was precisely here...he's probably hiding out..."

"We BETTER NOT lose him..." Shrek said, feeling more and more pressured at the thought of Charming potentially escaping.

They were all getting shoved by the running citizens as they all cried out, doing circles between the palm trees in the middle of Duloc's main path, but the knights and Shrek didn't mind; they were here to save them, and their main priority was fishing out Charming.

"LOOK! OVER THERE! THERE HE IS!" Shrek yelled, looking back at Arthur's knights upon witnessing one distinguishable knight amongst a circle of Charming's; he was heavily guarded, so clearly, that must be Charming in armour.

The forces all moved in, as did Shrek, running to capture 'Charming', but emerging from the buildings was something they didn't predict, at least, not in that position anyways.

"LOOK OUT! CROSSBOW KNIGHTS FROM ALL THE SHOPS! DUCK DOWN!" the leading knight yelled, in which the sound of crossbows firing off through the windows and eventually, into the direction of Shrek and the Far-Far away knights had only increased the crowd of citizens running for their lives, panicking as their cries echoed.

"SHREK, CAN YOU GET TO THEM?! WE'VE GOT ANOTHER BULK OF SWORD-EQUIPPED KNIGHTS COMING OUR WAY, TOO! CHARMING'S HEADING FOR THE CASTLE!"

"AYE, I'LL SNEAK UP ON EM, CAN YOU KEEP THOSE GUYS BAITED?" Shrek said, rapidly, for the knights were quickly closing in.

"GO, GO-" he was cut off from having to hold his sword out diagonally, due to one of the enemy knights initiating the battle with him, "YOU GO, ORGE, WE'LL GET RID OF THESE GUYS!"

Shrek made a run for the corner, so he could sneak up on the crossbow knights inside the shops of Duloc. He was confident that Arthur's knights could take on Charming's ones by themselves, because of the drastic difference in experience. Shrek ducked down, as he started dripping sweat from his orge, big green forehead, to stealthily make his way into the first shop with the crossbow knight inside. The sound of metal colliding, amongst yelling and moans of struggle, made Shrek concerned about whether or not Arthur's knights were doing alright. He couldn't keep his head turned, because he needed to focus, so therefore, he couldn't look at the progress being made. He opened the door after ducking, and instantly, he made a run for the first crossbow knight, who tried to shoot, but realized that he was out of arrows. Shrek grasped upon his chest and held him up high into the air.

"WHERE'S CHARMING?!" he yelled, gritting his teeth.

"YOU...YA-YU..." the knight was stuttering, "YOU'LL NEVER GET HIM! HE'LL LIVE ON!"

Shrek simply tossed this merciless knight against the wall, letting him go of his green orge palms, sending him into a state of collapse. He took ahold of the crossbow, only to find that it was empty. That was one crossbow knight down, and now, there were numerous more to go.

"WE'VE GOT THEM!" one of the knights said, as he tackled down his opposing knight, in which he and the others were easily taking them down; Charming's knights were once homeless people, who were recruited on the spot, so they weren't fully ready for something like this.

They only succeeded in taking over Duloc in the first place because Charming had the advantage of making that old minister withdraw every single knight from Duloc's defence; this time around, they're starting to find that the tide has heavily turned.

"ORGE, CAN YOU TAKE ON THOSE OTHER ONES?!" the knights yelled, as they ran off to deal with the other bulk of Charming's melee knights.

"DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT!"

A carriage was seen, moving in the distance near the castle entrance; this alarmed Shrek particularly, as the other knights were too busy on eliminating their enemies to see it, apart from one.

"I JUST SAW A CARRIAGE, IT'S PROBABLY GOING FOR CHARMING!"

"NO, NONONONONO! HE'S NOT GETTING AWAY!" Shrek said, getting stressed out and worried about losing this opportunity because of Charming's determination to escape his fate.

All of Charming's knights were setting up barricades of wood, thinking it'll be strong enough to prevent an orge like Shrek; that was far from the case. They kept placing down thick wood, as Shrek and the others were distracted with getting rid of the bulk of knights in the shops and the ones confronting Arthur's knights in the middle of the path. Shrek noticed that the barricades were being placed, which implied to him that Charming was just beyond there.

"LOOK, THEY'RE SETTING UP BARRICADES! KEEP PUSHING, WE'VE ALMOST GOT HIM!" Shrek yelled.

After a few minutes, Shrek was able to eliminate all of the crossbow knights in the shops, just as Arthur's knights had managed to combat their way through the ones in the path. Their rusty armour didn't help their chances against Arthur's knights. Beyond those barricades, though, was the last of Charming's knights, and they were the ultimate distraction for Charming's escape out of here; he's hanging out elsewhere in Duloc, just waiting for the damage to be done, and also in the hope that he'll perhaps have a brief chance to kill Shrek before he departs for good.

The citizens had all evacuated; in the midst of this fighting, Duloc was abandoned completely, now that Charming's deadly leadership was being challenged by Far-Far-away's own. Although it was good that the citizens were now in safety, that still didn't accomplish the goal; capture Charming, and prosecute him harshly. It was silent in the darkness now, since all of the knights around this part of Duloc had either been killed, or they had abandoned their positions to run away from their inexperience.

Shrek and the knights had all walked on the concrete path leading up to the castle; the atmosphere felt like a death-or-life choice, it was that intense. Shrek continued to lead the way, though, albeit some painful injuries and scratches from some of the swords.

"WHAT KIND OF OPPOSITION IS WAITING FOR US, ORGE?" one of the knights said, breathing heavily as he had a few blood marks around his face.

"They've set up a few barricades, this MUST be where Charming is...whatever it is, this is the final push, we've almost got him...he's ran in here, clearly..."

They all charged for the barricade, in which Shrek had plummeted his weight into it, causing it to collapse, and he did the same for the second one. As he did this, however, it dawned on him that 'Charming' as he's claimed that knight to be, the one who's been heavily guarded, has never unveiled his face from his helmet; he didn't think much of it, but he still had a reason to be cautious. He could hear all of the knights beyond this entrance; the main bulk of Charming's knights are in the stadium, and what is ultimately left of his regime. He built it up in an entire year, but it's so much weaker than he expected due to food shortages and inexperience of his people, that it's collapsed in under an hour from this attack. The battle was far from over, though.

"On my go, we rush in. Orge, try and get to Charming if you can, he has no reason to hide out in the castle itself, surely? he'll be near the door, if anything..."

"Alrighty, GO GO GOOOOOOO!"

They all rushed out, and as soon as they did, their shields went up as if a magnet was in the sky; crossbow knights were surrounding the corners of the stadium, and the melee knights were just about to approach them. Shrek remained in the entrance, because it was too dangerous for him to go there; he simply had to wait for the Far-Far away forces to do their thing. As he waited, the first casualty of Arthur's knights had occurred; he ventured off from the group into his own, where they all had the advantage of surrounding him and ultimately, ending him; the numbers game was what worried Shrek the most, and seeing the first Far-Far away knight killed didn't make him feel any better. Nonetheless, their armour was heavy and strong enough to prevent any of those arrows from the crossbows causing any damage. Near the door, though, was a heavily guarded knight in the form of Charming.

Their arrows had ran out, and as a result, the knights in the corners had pulled out all their swords, and rushed in to join the commotion. It was now or never for their dear leader, whom they've had to defend tonight; these guys were clearly underestimating Far-Far-away, however.

"I CAN'T LET HIM ESCAPE!" Shrek yelled, just rushing out from the entrance, sprinting past all of the knights fighting, in order to get to the one he's sighted this entire time.

Shrek saw himself be charged at from all of the guarding knights with swords, so he simply ducked down and heaved his way speedily around them, before grabbing them and yanking their swords, albeit spiky, from their grasps. He grabbed the two who had charged at him and tossed them into the others. He turned to the knight who was supposedly Charming, before he simply unveiled his face to the orge.

"W-WHAT?! WHERE IS HE?! NOOO! WHERE'S CHARMING YOU-" Shrek was angered, and he exploded; it WASN'T Charming, which had prompt him to try and capture this impostor anyways so he could do what he's done to the other knights, but he found himself getting piled upon by the other knights; Far-Far away's forces were too focused on them all to save Shrek.

Arthur was shocked to be walking in the midst of a silent, abandoned Duloc; after a few moments to himself, he regained his masculinity, and he wanted to return to helping Shrek capture Charming. But as he was walking past the silent blue buildings, with the concrete paths and the palm trees, he was shocked to discover the main individual of them all; Prince Charming, carrying a sword, holding it by the blade; this made no sense to Arthur; has Charming MISLED his forces intentionally to get away? as Charming began rushing through the entrance to the stadium, Arthur began speeding up his pace to catch up; he couldn't let Charming do what he's clearly wanting to do; he's tricked everyone into thinking that he was that armoured up knight, but it was all apart of his plan. Where Charming appeared also, there was a carriage with a couple of horses on it, but Arthur didn't notice them.

Prince Charming was going in to kill Shrek in the midst of the battle in the stadium, after hiding out and watching over the entire thing. Then, he'll make his escape so he can re-do all of this, in a much stronger stance having gained the experience. As soon as Charming got into the stadium, his knights didn't look at him, because they didn't want this orge seeing him at all, ideally. Arthur was panting and sweating as his heart felt like it was going to burst, and it only worsened when he was right behind Charming, standing in the stadium where everybody was killing each other; he gasped, and he felt like he was going to cry; all of the citizens have abandoned their HOME, and why? all because of that man, right there.

"Come here little orge...get your little present..." Prince Charming said, with Arthur overhearing it; he could sense that Charming was going to kill Shrek, and he had to stop him.

"RAAAAARGHHHHH!" Arthur roared, as he grasped Charming by his blue leotard to spin him around; Charming was surprised, but he instantly recognised the one kid he's dreaded and hated, alongside his hatred for Shrek.

Prince Charming sent his sword into the direction of Arthur, only for Arthur to sidestep to the left, subsequently sending his fingers scratching deeply into the chin of Charming, causing his insides to boil as he was given a brief flashback to this kid; the very kid who was apart of the sole reason WHY he was stopped back at Far-Far-away. The pain from the scratch made Charming rage inside, and he wanted to do what he, in his head, should've done back at Far-Far-away when he had it under coup.

Shrek stumbled in his tightly grasped body from Charming's knights to look at Charming and Arthur, SHOCKED at seeing Charming, before Charming sidestepped left and right, to confuse Arthur, before pushing the kid backwards and ducking down, to PENETRATE HIS SWORD INTO THE BELLY OF ARTHUR.

"AAAAAAAAARTHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRR!" Shrek yelled, but that wasn't all.

"LAUNCH THE CATAPULTSSSSS!" one of Charming's knights had yelled, pointing to the hidden catapults in the stadium.

The rocks were sent up into the air, crashing right down onto some of Far-Far away's knights and Charming's knights as the entire atmosphere became dusty; Shrek pushed his way from the knights before grabbing them all and harshly punching them with his orge hands; he was emotional, but he found himself dropping down to the ground because of the catapults firing. He was coughing out dust, as all of the knights seemed to have been numbered down harshly from the catapults; equally, Charming's and Far-Far away's knights. They were all to distracted to have witnessed Charming's stabbing of Arthur, though.

"ARTHUR! ARTHURRR!" Shrek yelled, just sprinting his way past the fight, as he ducked down to a wounded, bloodied Artie on the ground.

This was it; Charming's grand plan had worked. As Shrek ducked down to Arthur's body, a noticeable carriage was rapidly moving away, as Charming was sprinting for the entrance to Duloc; the carriage was following him to pick him up, and as Shrek sighted it from the corner of his eye, he dragged Arthur's body away from the fighting to talk to him.

"Oh no...nonononono...NOOO...ARTHUR, ARE YOU OKAY?! NOOO!"

"S-SHre-Shrek..." Arthur stuttered, breathing with a stutter as blood was starting to rise up from his mouth, "l-leave me...d-don't let him get away..."

"A-ARTHUR, DO-" Arthur's body had stumbled to a lifeless state, "OH NONONONONONONOOOOO, ARTHUR! ARTHURRRRRRRRR!" Shrek yelled, before collapsing his head down to Arthur's chest; tears were watering his eyes.

He sat up, shocked and empty as he, as an orge, began crying, a rare occurrence. Artie was the kid who was bullied around in high school camp, and he was the kid who prevented Charming's influence the first time around by convincing all those villains to become good...Shrek had really come to like him, but now...that was it...and all it took was the vindictive strike of a single man.

He looked down at Arthur as he wiped his eyes, feeling like he had nothing in his orge self; his heart felt like it stopped pumping, but all this did was give Shrek an even bigger desire to pay Charming his ultimate price, and it wasn't ending here.

Shrek stood up slowly, gritting his teeth, looking to the direction that that carriage had rapidly charged in; Shrek wiped his tears, wanting to grant Arthur's final wish of stopping Charming from escaping. He didn't want the knights knowing about Charming's presence, because he wanted this to be personal between himself and Charming, when he confronts him imminently.

He started sprinting through the stadium entrance, tears and all, back towards the entrance of Duloc, as it dawned on him that Charming's probably already been taken away on the carriage. His heart was pounding, and he felt tight everywhere; he was sprinting for his life, and he felt like he was on a timer. He got to the entrance of Duloc, just sprinting past the various abandoned aspects of Duloc; he hurried rapidly. Charming was dead ahead, and all Shrek had to do was keep running. He got through the entrance hole.

As soon as he saw Charming climb into the carriage a distance away, Shrek's sprinting became practically ten times the speed it's been prior; he's not letting Charming get away in the slightest, even if it meant chasing the carriage whilst it's still catch-able.

The carriage had Charming halfway through it, as Shrek started sprinting towards it. Charming rapidly climbed into it and slammed the hatch shut, as the two knights controlling the horses had noticed the orge; they tried to go as fast as possible before Shrek could reach them. Shrek sprinted, but the carriage was already picking up too much speed.

The orge managed to slip a corner, and he made a leap of faith as Charming watched on through the window as the carriage was on the move. He just about managed to grip onto the edge of the rapidly moving carriage from his leap of faith.

Air was rushing past the ears of Shrek as he climbed up to the two knights controlling the carriage and its horses. As the wind was blowing into them all due to the speed of the carriage, the knight closest had tried to send his boot up to Shrek's chest to kick him off, but Shrek sent his hand against it, and subsequently, sent his big green fist into the head of the knight, before tossing him off altogether.

As soon as he got a grip on the seat, the second knight pulled out a crossbow, but Shrek pushed it back, with the knight accidentally shooting it into one of the horses as a result. Shrek shoved the knight off with a forceful and rapid push, causing him to roll harshly down to the ground, before he grabbed onto the ropes with the horses on them.

He tried to control the horses, but they began increasing their speed with their hooves; the carriage was spiralling out of control as Shrek desperately tried to get the horses to turn around to go back to Duloc to stop Charming escaping, but it was no use; the horse that was shot had managed to stretch the rope out far, to the point that it snapped off, and the other horse did the same, leaving the carriage aimlessly, rapidly charging forwards.

The horse with the arrow had collapsed from the pain, whereas the other simply ran off out of being spooked. Shrek and Charming, both within the carriage, had crashed harshly into the forest nearby, where the carriage slammed straight ahead into the trees, with the collision emitting a thunderous sound as the carriage came into slight pieces from the deadly crash.

And then, there were two long-time enemies within a close proximity of each other in pain amongst a crashed carriage...


	46. Ultimate outcome

**CHAPTER 46: Ultimate outcome**

Duloc was now pretty much a ghost town; not a single citizen was seen, but all there was left were huge collections of Far-Far-away knights, who managed to ultimately win the battle. Their main priority, though, was checking on Arthur; the kid was out cold, and the knights had no idea what to make of it; their young, youthful king was simply...murdered, and emotions were running at an all time high.

"YOUR MAJESTY?! NO, YOUR MAJESTY?!" a knight said, just gripping onto Arthur's chest as he was out with it from the deadly wound of Charming's sword.

"Sergeant, that wound isn't survivable by any human being...he's..." a senior knight said, as he walked towards Arthur's body from the stadium direction, where Charming's knights were pretty much eradicated.

The battle may be over in Duloc, but the war has certainly left its mark; Duloc was no longer a place to be lived in, and although Charming's knights were no more, which had officially given Far-Far-away's forces the victory over Charming's men, Charming's actions have left one devastating scar in Far-Far-away once the knights return home to break the news to the Far-Far-away kingdom; the killing of Arthur Pendragon, the king.

"God...we need ourselves some sort of medic...who can-"

"Sergeant...I'm so sorry..." the senior knight said, planting his hand onto his less experienced knight companion, unable to contain his emotions at the sight of Arthur's deceased body.

"What's going on here? we're all clear-" a group of Far-Far-away's knights said, walking towards the commotion near the stadium entrance of Duloc, from the stadium itself after clearing the area. They halted their speak as soon as they saw their king's body flat on the stone cold ground.

"Your MAJES-"

"He's..." the senior knight who had just comforted the sergeant knight just now stuttered, "he's...he's gone..."

For a king of Arthur's age to be slain? it was the pure definition of somebody taken away far too soon. Arthur had got used to being royalty, as well, and the kid had a ton of years ahead of himself. He wanted to do more to reform Far-Far-away, and his ambitions were limitless. Just imagine losing a kid of yours, or a sibling of yours, at such a young age, to the most painful death possible? that was precisely the type of vibes all the knights were getting, and their hearts were racing beats just thinking about it; they were shivering out of the pure weakness of their internal sadness, and they felt like jelly in their legs. They had this ache in their chests that felt like pre-heart attacks.

The knights attended to Arthur's heavily wounded and deceased body. The man behind Arthur's killing, Prince Charming, meanwhile, was about to taste the exact definition of tasting his own medicine.

And now, it was time for Charming and Shrek to settle everything, once and for all...

Shrek's body was aching, as he was flat on his belly on the grass; in the distance beyond the trees was Duloc itself, and near one of the trees in front of the orge near the opening of the forest was the wreckage of the carriage. His entire body felt numb from the crash.

A single crossbow was sighted by Shrek's eyes just a tiny distance away, but as he tried crawling towards it, a very familiar figure started stumbling from behind the carriage.

Charming, one arm over his ribs to ease the pain from the crash, stumbled to a tree just besides the wreckage, noticing Shrek on the ground and the crossbow in the middle of himself and Shrek. Slowly, he began walking with one arm dangled over his lower body, as his air was cut short from the painful crash.

Shrek dragged himself across the grass as it turned into a race for the crossbow. Charming was stumbling and twirling in his balance as he tried to get it before Shrek.

As this happened, Charming's figure was literally in front of Duloc in the distance, beyond the forest opening, giving him the appearance of being a giant right besides Duloc. Appropriate? perhaps, for a guy who committed a massacre and mercilessly killed the people living there for the sake of power.

Their goals were clear; Shrek needed to end this once and for all to redeem Duloc, its citizens, his daughter, Felicia, and especially, to gain revenge for Arthur's killing. Charming wanted to kill this vile and disgusting orge to avenge his mother, and to avenge himself, for Shrek initially stopping his take-over over Far-Far-away some time ago and making him look like the biggest fool going.

Charming also had the notion that Shrek was purely responsible for his mother's death, and thus, killing the orge seemed like the perfect way to avenge her.

Charming slipped down to one knee, gripping his blue leotard-chest harder, coughing up some air from the pain of the crash. He looked back up, as Shrek was closer and closer to the crossbow. Charming stood back up on his feet after coughing, walking to the crossbow.

Shrek's thick green hand gripped the crossbow, but as soon as it did, Charming stomped his boot onto Shrek's hand; it didn't hurt Shrek too much, but the pain from the crash weakened the orge. As a result, Charming's stomp caused Shrek to lose his grip of the crossbow on the grass. Charming ducked down and grabbed the crossbow.

He aimed it right at Shrek, as the dark and depressing sky surrounded Charming from Shrek's perspective; this was it, Shrek had no way of saving himself. Charming was shivering and shaking from everything that's happened, as he had his fingers and his two hands on the crossbow.

"Goodbye...S-Shrek..." Charming said, stuttering, as the pain made it hard for his throat to emit his voice.

An arrow, out of nowhere, penetrated Charming's shoulder from the side, causing Charming to slip down besides Shrek to the direction of where that random arrow came from; it was the ARMOURY MINISTER.

Wanting to redeem himself for allowing this vile, disgusting, murderous man in Prince Charming to succeed, the Armoury Minister had escaped the castle after Charming's betrayal, just waiting for the right moment to go for the kill on him. He had saved Shrek just now, so it was the perfect time to have done it.

"RAAARGH! UGHHH!" Charming yelled from the pain of the arrow, rapidly aiming his own crossbow up towards the Armoury Minister, as the Minister himself continued to aimlessly shoot more and more arrows.

Charming's crossbow arrows penetrated the Armoury Minister in the shoulder, and again, and Charming's fingers held onto the trigger, as he was shooting the crossbow at the Armoury Minister, until the minister's body flopped down in a small puddle of blood.

Shrek was all the more enraged after seeing that; Charming needed to be ended NOW. Shrek was so angry and pissed off now that he felt like crying. Charming looked back at Shrek's body as his back was still turned to the orge; he still had the crossbow in his hands.

Shrek leapt up, and took Charming by the throat to harshly collide Charming back-first against a tree lined up with the wreckage of the crashed carriage. He raised his left orge knuckle up and PELTED Charming with no hesitation in the face; raising his right orge knuckle up, he punched Charming in the face again, before finishing off with another left knuckle, harsh punch, to Charming. One for killing Arthur, one for killing the innocent Duloc citizens, and one for kidnapping Felicia.

Charming was spouting blood all over his face. Shrek kept him against the tree as a concussed Charming was helpless; Shrek placed his hand right against Charming's throat to strangle the living hell out of him.

"RAAARGH, AAAARGHHHHHH!" Charming yelled, as a huge volcano of pain enraged his face.

His air was cut short from Shrek's palms strangling him. The orge kept the pressure high, and he was that angry and pissed off with Charming he could literally cry whilst giving him the ultimate payback right now. The orge gritted his teeth as Charming gradually became unconscious from the blows and the strangle. He grabbed Charming by the leotard and rushed him forwards, only to slam him harshly back first against the tree trunk. He once again pulled Charming back, only to slam him backfirst against the tree-trunk.

Charming's eyes were half-closed as he was panting in the midst of his ultimate fate. As Shrek looked to prepare for the final blow on Charming, in the midst of urgency in the orge to finish Charming off, he was suddenly lifted up into the air by a couple of paws as collections of air flapped besides his body, thicker and thicker by the minute, like a hurricane was here. That air came from Dragon's wings.

" **SHREK?!** " Donkey yelled, as he was lifted into the air, whilst holding Charming by his leotard, by Dragon.

Dragon ascended upwards into the air, as gusts of winds penetrated past Shrek and Charming. As soon as she let go, Charming raised his battered and bloodied and concussed face up to Shrek's direction; he could sense a lack of ground beneath him.

The orge and Charming descended from Dragon's release of Shrek.

" **RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Charming yelled, for the air and atmosphere started vibrating and shaking like a tornado for him and Shrek...**

The second Shrek and Charming hit the ground, Charming became motionless and still; Shrek bounced off from the impact, to a point his entire chest felt numb, looking on from a small distance at Charming's dead body. He was in pain, and felt lightheaded to the point he didn't even feel his consciousness; his legs, everything, felt like they weren't there. He slowly dragged himself backwards on the ground.

He halted for a moment; Shrek once again dragged himself backwards, as Dragon landed practically next to Shrek; Fiona and Donkey slid off of her to comfort Shrek as he crawled backwards on the ground.

Seeing Charming's body flat on the ground solidified one thing that comforted Shrek, Donkey, Fiona, and Dragon; **it was all over.**

Shrek felt exhausted and tired, even more so from the fall he just had, but Dragon knew exactly what had to be done, and so, she did what she did just now in helping Shrek conquer Charming, who's arguably, after all these events, became the most deadliest foe Shrek's had to come up against.

They all remained silent, looking ahead in the dark, cold, night, but Shrek nodded his head as tears were emerging from his orge eyes; Arthur's death returned to his mind, and he had to break the news to Fiona...


	47. Funeral

**CHAPTER 47: Funeral**

A few days had passed since Shrek and the now-deceased Arthur had defeated Charming, and as a result, ended his regime movement. But Arthur's death was by far the most notable thing to have came out of it all. Far-Far-away is without a king, and now, they'll need to try and scramble their way around the system perhaps, to try and see who's worthy of stepping up to the throne. For today, though, on what was a cloudy, somewhat cold morning, the entirety of Far-Far-away was in a mourning state; the entire kingdom had given up its usual jobs and routines for the funeral of their king. All the citizens were lined up, shoulder-to-shoulder, across the path leading all the way up to the castle, and inside the courtyard itself was Shrek, Fiona, and the rest. They were all given the run down of what happened, and they too experienced the same reaction as Shrek did when he witnessed Charming killing Arthur.

A single carriage, moving slowly, was emerging from one of the buildings all the way at the bottom of the kingdom. As soon as it touched down on the concrete path leading up to the castle, the citizens all bowed down as they held up candles; some of them were crying, and some were simply depressed-looking. They had no idea what would happen to their kingdom, now that their king is dead. What made it even more saddening and emotional for them was that King Arthur was still young; he had years in himself, and to acknowledge that a young kid, who was just beginning to strive as royalty, had been killed, it was a universal sadness being delivered.

The carriage had the coffin inside, in which the coffin contained the king's body. Four sets of heavily armoured knights were walking besides the carriage, as they all wanted to guard it due to how significant it was; it had their KING'S BODY in it, so naturally, the kingdom was super strict on keeping it safe. As it rolled on its wheels past the many citizens, some of them had boxes of tissues out, just wiping their tears out. The carriage continued to move slowly, as the sense of losing somebody you loved began making its way into the air.

Mr Merlin was amongst the guest attendees for the funeral, as they were all anticipating the arrival of the carriage. After a good 10 minutes waiting, in pure silence, as nobody made a single utterance, the gates of the courtyard were slowly opened, as everyone stood still like statues, where some of the crying could be heard. Fiona and Shrek were one of the ones who had to eventually use a box of tissues to calm their tears. Lillian was especially one of them; this was her nephew, after all. She felt the exact same way she felt when Harold had passed. Arthur was young, innovative, and a kid who was making a big name of himself, and the more Lillian thought about the type of future he could've had, the more tissues she had to ultimately use.

All of the knights walked in besides the carriage, moving their hands up to their helmets to remain in a saluting gesture, staying right besides the carriage. There was a big, wooden podium up near the castle entrance. The carriage, being moved by the horses controlled by the knights on the carriage, had got onto the gigantic red carpet, as a whole service of citizens were standing in a gigantic collection of numbers. They watched the carriage with sorrow, as their deceased king was being delivered up for the main aspect of the funeral. All of the citizens stood still, and near the podium on the top were Arthur's closest friends, and his family, including Shrek and Fiona, alongside Felicia, Fergus, and Farkle. The grey clouds didn't provide any help to the atmosphere, either.

As the courtyard gates shut, the carriage had took its time up the red carpet before it finally stopped. There, a knight had slowly climbed out from the carriage, and gave a saluting gesture to one of the upper knights, the ones who were walking besides it on the way up here. As soon as the knights gave Lillian the signal, she slowly and weakly walked up to the podium, standing in front of over a hundred people. The eulogy was, without a doubt, going to be the hardest part to get through without reacting emotionally.

Dragon was also here, and she was standing behind the courtyard border. She had utter sorrow for the kid, even more so because she had witnessed him putting on the crown after she knocked that tower over Charming that night.

Lillian kept sniffing, as she wiped tissues over her red eyes, in which Shrek had held onto Fiona to support her; they were both tired with sadness as the reality of Arthur's death had hit them hard.

"G-Good m-morning e-..." Lillian waved her hands to signal a 'no', breaking down on the podium, as she began crying even more so than she was prior to coming up.

"F-Fiona..s-shall I..." Shrek whispered, weakly, feeling like he should do it instead of Lillian, to make it easier for her.

Fiona nodded at her husband as her eyes shined; she had Felicia in her hands, with Fergus and Farkle standing besides her. Shrek began walking from the single file line that included him, Fiona, Gingy, Puss, Donkey, Pinocchio, The Three Little Pigs, and the dronkeys. It was just so surreal and saddening for everyone, almost as if the world had suddenly cracked and everyone was sucked through the hole.

Shrek made a gesture to Lillian and the knights as she was crying; she nodded, in which the knights had given the orge permission to stand up on the podium. Although he looked rather out of place, he was still a close companion to Arthur, and at the end of the day, Shrek was his cousin in law.

"I-I just want to take this opportunity to...thank you all...for this effort...his majesty was truly a young and upcoming royalty, and we shared some fantastic moments together..." Shrek said, quietly through the microphone.

"He was a lad who...was on the wrong side at the start, but he soon put them all to shame when he got to this position...he was obviously a great king for you all...now, at the time of his death, I was fighting a battle on two fronts; specifically, I was trying to help him save Duloc and uh..." Shrek was reluctant in mentioning the dreaded name of Prince Charming, but since this is the eulogy, he felt like it was important for all of the citizens to know specifically what led to Arthur's death.

Shrek took a big sniff through his nostrils as he could feel even more tears generate.

"The cowardly act of one man, one man who's not only tried to cause harm to my family, but also to this kingdom, was how we got to this point. P-Prince Charming, I'd like to reveal, did NOT get away with this. I took it within my own hands to give him an even more painful demise, and sure enough, he didn't stand a chance. I went in with the intent of capturing Charming, but when he killed Arthur out of his cowardly style...my plan changed, and although it felt out of character for me, well...sometimes, you need to resort to levels you're not comfortable with to end the threat altogether. I loved Arthur, but we can all be assured of his significance, because he can rest in peace, knowing that he was avenged instantly. I was really unsure about whether or not I should talk about Charming, but I think it's important that we all get a light into how he came about doing this...and again, let me be clear; Charming got the biggest retaliation than he'd have ever expected. We all loved Arthur, and with his murderer out of the picture forever, what can we learn from this? we can't let somebody like Charming ever emerge again...he firstly took over this beautiful kingdom, then when he failed, he stooped to an even more dangerous level and he began capturing and murdering innocents...he did kidnappings, and then, he re-did the same tactic but with a deadlier strategy. I was that determined to avenge Arthur, I briefly chased the carriage Charming was trying to escape in, and if I hadn't made a lucky leap to catch onto it as it was getting speedier, then he would've got away...just imagine the consequences of that? but he didn't, and now, he's where he deserves to be, for all of the disgusting and murderous things he's done..."

"Arthur will not be forgotten. Whilst I've shedded some light on how we came to this point, I think it's worthwhile for me to say that I had the best time of my life, secretly, taking him back here when he was reluctant in becoming king...I hope he can hear us and watch us all here, admiring our passion and our respects...rest in peace, you magnificent king..." Shrek said, concluding his share of the eulogy.

The entire courtyard had applauded Shrek as he continued to sniff. He smiled at all of the citizens clapping for his speech now, they know who was really behind Arthur's death; Prince Charming, the man who wanted revenge, in short, for Shrek constantly stopping him in the past, and he had his other reasons for wanting revenge too, such as avenging Fairy Godmother, amongst other motivations.

Lillian felt more comfortable to step up, now that somebody had at least kicked off the eulogy. She really wanted to give her true thoughts out to the people of Far-Far-away. She stepped up to the podium, tears and all, looking out to the hundreds and hundreds of citizens around the red carpet leading up to the castle behind.

"I just...I just can't believe what's happened here...to think that a youngster like Arthur could be a victim of such an act...I..." she paused again, getting a lump in her throat, but she tried to continue, in order to prevent the emotions stopping her, "I think we owe it to Shrek for doing such a brave thing...I'm sure, if we had Charming here, he'd have been sentenced to his own demise, but like he said, he did it for Arthur, and we're all truly grateful for that, Shrek, so thank you...my nephew, Arthur, had potential written all over him, from the moment he was crowned king...and it delighted me to see him doing a spectacular job, and I'm sure he's managed to give you all a good life...he'll be in our memories, and although he was young, he'll go down in our history..."

Shrek, Puss, Fiona, and the rest had all applauded Lillian as did the citizens; they were all just as shocked at the death of their king. Lillian stepped away from the podium, as she was unable to continue her speech due to the overwhelming emotions running rampant in her heart. The eulogy was extremely hard to get through, and even though two people have given a speech, they all felt like it was time for the burial of the coffin, but a few other people wanted to give their say on the death of the king.

They were all now at the graveyard, situated just behind the castle of Far-Far-away. Four knights had carried the coffin using strong bits of rope holding it from the bottom, so they could gently lower it down. Arthur was given his own special grave; it was golden, and it had a crown on the golden grave itself. They had dug out the hole for the coffin prior to this moment. Everybody had stopped behind the four knights carrying the coffin as they managed to get the coffin over the hole; Shrek held onto Fiona, and Donkey and Puss were all as saddened. Puss took his hat off to pay his personal respects, as Dragon constantly emitted saddened, yet quiet sounds. Lillian stood with Shrek and Fiona, as the three kids were also amongst them. The knights had all began to slowly lower down the coffin, gently; it wasn't heavy, thankfully, but they still needed to be careful.

As the coffin was lowered, the knights had less and less weight to worry about; they were scared that they'd accidentally let go of their ropes, but thankfully, that didn't happen. They gently dropped the coffin to the ground soil in the hole, and as soon as they did, they dragged the ropes out from the hole. Everyone, from Shrek, to Fiona, to the three kids, to Puss and the rest, had dropped in some roses they were given as they were walking here. One by one, they all dropped the roses on top of the coffin, in order to give their ultimate respects to Arthur.

They had a moment of silence in the midst of the grey clouds. When it was over, they all couldn't leave, especially Shrek, Fiona and Lillian and their friends; it was simply too surreal and hard to acknowledge that such a young king like Arthur was gone, for good.


	48. Surreal reflection

**CHAPTER 48: Surreal reflection**

Shrek was sat on the bed, as he looked to the direction of the balcony in the Far-Far-away castle. The weather was warmer, and all he could hear beyond the balcony was the sound of a few of the citizens laughing. Far-Far-away seemed to be back to normal, even though they were still without a king. Shrek didn't know what to think of it all, though. He felt strange, for some reason, and the warm weather seemed to enhance that. He kept looking down at the floor as he sat still on the bed, just having mixed emotions about the whole Arthur situation. However, he and Fiona, will be returning to the swamp today, and that made him feel even stranger; he just didn't know what to think about everything. It was like, although Charming's now dead, Shrek still feels like he's got more to offer. It was strange, indeed.

It felt like the journey was over, but there was just a tiny chunk of it remaining, and the orge couldn't conclude on what it was. Every time he thought about Arthur, he'd begin feeling like he was going to cry, but he couldn't at this point. He was just in a weird state. When you lose somebody you knew well and cared about, and then you feel like the future isn't going to get any better, that was what Shrek was going through. In this case, although Charming's dead, and hopefully, the initial support for him has died down as a result, Shrek felt like it wasn't truly the ending just yet, making him feel depressed and somewhat apprehensive.

The door opened very slowly, as Fiona walked inside the room with quietness. She was readying herself to go back to the swamp. Felicia, Fergus and Farkle had all walked in with her, as she had prepared them to go back as well.

"Shrek?" Fiona said.

Shrek let off a weak, sad-like sigh.

"How're you, Fiona?" he asked.

"I'm...doing better, better than before I guess..." she said, walking over towards the bed to sit down besides Shrek.

Felicia sat on the bed next to her father, as Fergus and Farkle took to Fiona's knees. Shrek slowly grabbed Felicia to place her onto his knee, as he looked down and drained from everything that's happened over the past few days. Seeing Felicia all happy had cheered him up, but he still felt like he needed to do something else, despite putting an end to what's been happening over the passing year, much to his unawareness until he met Twart and Blay when they were still alive.

"T-That's it..." Shrek said, "it all feels over for me...I can't explain it, but I feel...unaccomplished, and it's putting me down..."

"No Shrek, we've done everything we can...we stopped Charming in the end, but I guess it still doesn't hide that he had given us one of the hardest times, by killing Arthur..."

"Fiona? why does this happen to us?" Shrek asked.

"W-What do you mean, Shrek?"

"I just need to do something...but I feel depressed at the moment, and...maybe I'll get over it, but it's strange to think that...it's all over..."

"What happens to us? you said something just now, Shrek, what's your point?"

"Look at the past, Fiona...first, it was Farquaad...then it was Fairy Godmother...then it was Prince Charming the first time, then it was a personal one between me and Rumpelstiltskin, and then it was Charming again and I guess Rumpelstiltskin again, before he was killed by Charming. Is it...really that hard for us to live a peaceful life?"

When they looked at it from that perspective, it was pretty shocking; they've all had to deal with four people at this point, with the two of them coming back. That thought had only enhanced the empty, weak feeling they felt about Arthur's death; they couldn't get it out of their heads. On the basis of what's been happening over the past few days, it can probably be concluded that Prince Charming was the worst one out of the four, from Farquaad, Fairy Godmother, and Rumpelstiltskin (even though Rumpelstiltskin was more powerful than Charming with the contracts, arguably, and came closer to killing Shrek than Charming initially). Shrek could honestly feel Arthur's presence, but at the same time, he misses him, so that's probably why he's feeling depressed.

"I just feel like I haven't done something that'll truly make me feel better.." Shrek said, as Felicia carefully got off of his knee.

Fiona looked at the three kids, wondering if Shrek's feeling this way not only because of Arthur, but because of the fact that he nearly lost Felicia. That was, after all, one of the big reasons why he wanted to initially capture Charming.

"Is it because he...you know, Charming I mean, took Felicia away?"

"Honestly? that's a part of it. But I think, Fiona, I'll never be able to forget that moment when he...he just took Arthur's life without a single hesitation..."

Fiona simply sighed as a response, as she couldn't find a good answer to come back with. The two of them were all affected by Arthur's death, but Shrek saw it in person before Charming and his knights launched their surprise, final attack with the catapults in the stadium. He didn't feel significant, and instead, he felt like he hadn't done enough. He still doesn't feel that way. If there was one cure to this, he'd have to do something that Arthur would want, but what would it be?

"Shrek, just remember, you've got a beautiful family. I'm...I'm still struggling to recover from his death, too, but in the end, you did what he would've wanted; avenged him. Felicia, Fergus and Farkle will all look up to you as the dad that had inspired them to become strong on the inside and the outside, and when we get back to the swamp, I'm sure...hopefully, that things will be able to clear up...but yeah, I...I'm just happy that we're all together, happy, and now safely secured..."

"I guess so, Fiona.." Shrek said.

The door once again opened, but you wouldn't expect the ones who had opened it to do so in the way they did just now. Donkey and Puss had both walked in, to a bunch of chuckling kids in Felicia, Fergus and Farkle, but also to a depressed-looking Shrek. They slowly walked in towards their direction in the room, as Puss once again took off his hat in order to show to Shrek that he's got ever-lasting respect for Arthur, especially after what happened to him.

"You uh...you doing okay, Shrek? Fiona?" Donkey asked, more calmly than usual.

"I don't know, Donkey, we seem to be mixed on everything..." Fiona replied, as Shrek stared down at the floor.

"I know that these are hard times, but we'll always be by your side...always, and never forget it, alright?" Donkey replied.

"I know, Donkey, and we appreciate that, as does Shrek, I'm sure?" Fiona said.

"Of course I do. It's just the...the swamp, I guess..."

"The swamp?" Donkey asked.

"Leaving here seems to be...not wrong, but just...strange, after what's happened...I feel like there's some sort of obligation I need to do, but until I work out what's truly running in my head, I'll feel all the more depressed and uncertain about the future, especially with Arthur gone..."

Shrek's orge spirit had been drained away from everything that's happened. Nobody would've thought for a moment that Charming's actions would provide as much of an impact as they have now. Despite being with his wife, Donkey and Puss, and his kids, Shrek had no idea what to do, despite claiming that they'll be returning to the swamp later on today.

Arthur's most loyal knights were sat on each side of the table inside the royal hall, as a large, luxury-like window had surrounded the majority of the wall behind the front chair, giving them a full clear view of the kingdom. The situation about the king was running rampant, and they were trying to quickly determine who should be chosen to rule, after Arthur. It had to be someone who was in line for the throne before Arthur took over, because they were all aware that there was another individual that the old king, Harold, had declared to be next in line, before that individual rejected the opportunity, and ultimately, went for Arthur instead so he could take the spot.

Lillian was also at the meeting, being the wife of Harold. She wasn't in the first meeting because of how difficult it was to get on with life beyond Arthur's death, but a few days later, to now, she felt more calm. She still, by all means, felt emotional about his death, but she learnt to calm down over it.

"Looking over this treaty here, we've got one possible name up for grabs...but I cannot, for the life of me, recall anybody with such a name..." the knight sitting on the top chair said, unable to pronounce the name in question.

"Let me get a look of that, I ought to work this out..." Lillian said, slowly gesturing for the knight to hand over the treaty.

He slid the paper across the table to get it into her grasp, and she took the paper with ease. She flattened the paper out and took a look at the names; this treaty held the names of the family of the king. It was only recently that it was implemented, and rightfully so, as it proved to be useful in determining who should be the next king.

"Well I never..." Lillian said, surprisingly, but in reality, she wasn't all that surprised; this name was one who should've taken the throne ages ago, "he's in the castle right now, you know? if you need to inform him, do it now..." she added, slowly placing the paper down.

Shrek stood up, still reluctant about leaving, but he also had the thought that if he leaves, he might be able to recover from the depression given to him from all of the ongoings as of late. Felicia, Fergus and Farkle were all super excited to get back to the swamp; it felt like it's been years for them, but with Charming out of the way, they'll be able to live their normal lives again. Felicia was as cheerful as a kid being given sweets, to the point that it looked like she wasn't even the victim of a kidnapping.

"It'll be great, honestly. When we get back to the swamp, we'll be free of any threat for the rest of our lives..." Fiona said, as the three kids rushed through the door into the castle hallway. She was trying to cheer Shrek up, even though she too felt somewhat depressed because of Arthur's death.

"I just hope I can feel as positive about it..." Shrek said.

They all followed Donkey and Puss through the hallway, as he was going to get his wife, Dragon, to fly them back to the swamp. It's pretty surreal to think that they haven't been at the swamp for a decent amount of days. When they get back, it'll be a resurrection of their home comforts, hopefully. They walked down, with Shrek walking with a certain slowness, as if he was walking through a pool of slime. He did his usual arm swaying with each step, but again, they were slower. His internal feelings were that of emptiness, and obviously, depression, and he felt deprived of any happiness.

"Excuse me?" a manly voice had said, at the end of the hall, prompting Shrek and his family, alongside Donkey and Puss, to turn around to a shiny figure of armour, the finest of the material; it was polished, and it was practically a mirror the reflections were that clear.

The knight marched his way over to Shrek in particular. Shrek wasn't energised enough to react, so he simply gave a blank stare at the knight. This seemed to be an important matter, though.

"Are you Shrek? and this, I believe, is Fiona? the daughter of Lillian?"

"Yeah, it's Shrek..." Shrek said, before looking at Fiona, "Fiona's my wife, yeah...why do you need to know that?"

"Oh, well then, you'll need to come with me right away..." the knight said, marching back to the opposite direction that Shrek and his family were initially walking in.

They all stood there though, confused.

"Come on, we can't afford to lose you, Shrek and Fiona, you've got a special purpose given the circumstances..."

Shrek and Fiona were curious, so they took ahold of Fergus, Farkle and Felicia gently and they, alongside Donkey and Puss, began walking up the hall to catch up with the knight.


	49. Your majesty

**CHAPTER 49: Your majesty**

Shrek and his family were led into the same hall that Lillian was in; inside was again, the large window that had shown a clear view of the kingdom from this floor of the castle, and the large table, chaired by Arthur's most loyal knights. Why, though, were they being taken here? what did it mean? they were about to find out, and possibly, it might be the cure Shrek's wanted, in order to fully do what Arthur would want him to do.

"Hello, Shrek..." a knight had said, walking up to him from the chair to shake the orge's hand.

Shrek didn't know why he was suddenly being treated like an important figure, but he shook the hand with delight anyways. The knight turned over to Fiona, recognising her as the daughter of Lillian. She shook the knight's hand too, before he had directed the pair to sit down at the table. The kids all sat on their laps, as Puss and Donkey had all stood in between the chairs. Shining as if the sun's light was directly reflecting off of it, the same crown Arthur was wearing was on the table, on a big thick red pillow. Shrek's eyes couldn't come off it; he suddenly gulped at what he's concluding on what'll be discussed here.

"So then, if our historical facts are correct, you are the husband of Fiona here, Shrek?"

"I am..."

"And Fiona, this is an obvious one but I need to ask it anyways for context purposes. This is your mother, right?" he pointed to Lillian.

"Noo..." Fiona said, generating a laugh amongst the room for the brief humour.

"Right then. Let me give you the run down. Our former king, Arthur, had ruled over here for a good year at least, and again, assuming our historical facts are correct, it is to be believed that you and Fiona were asked by the old king, Harold, specifically, to take the throne, before Arthur came along?"

It dawned on Shrek and Fiona, like a bomb.

"Y-You're not suggest-"

"I am. You're the husband of Fiona, making you Lillian and Harold's son-in-law. Therefore, you and Fiona are the heirs to the throne...I really wouldn't make this a choice, but if you really object to this, we'll be without a heir..."

Shrek looked around the room, shocked, and uncertain; yes, he was wanting to do something that'd make him kill off the depression he's felt, but to once again be named the next heir to the throne of Far-Far-away? with Fiona? he genuinely was lost for words. He's had to deal with Charming as of late, and now, for the payoff to be this? he couldn't speak a single word. Fiona's face went from a blank stare to a sudden smile upon the mentioning of being the heirs. Donkey and Puss all turned to Shrek and Fiona, as the three kids were still unable to fully understand what was being discussed.

Shrek stood up, walking to the window that had shown a clear view of the kingdom; he placed his palm onto his forehead, unsure as to what to do; would it feel right...to take over as king? as an ORGE? the same concern he had initially when Harold had told him he was next in line was coming back, but this time, he wasn't as strong on it; he's just never felt that an orge as king was right. The knights could tell, from Shrek's body language, that he was fifty fifty on the situation. After all, being a king is a hefty duty. Shrek's never thought of himself as any sort of royalty, either.

"I...I don't know if I can..." Shrek said, as he could hear some steps approaching him from both the left and the right; Lillian and Fiona had both approached him.

Lillian placed her hand onto Shrek's shoulder, showing her absolute support of Shrek taking over the throne; he is, after all, the one who assisted greatly in putting an end to Charming, alongside the knights. He was also related to Arthur due to his marriage with Fiona, so all in all, she considered him more than worthy of stepping up to the plate to become king.

"Shrek, you know who'd want this? Arthur..." Lillian said, with Shrek looking at her upon her saying that, "you did what he wanted you to do...and I'm sure, if there's anybody he'd consider being a worthy heir, it'd be you..."

Admittedly, Shrek felt like if he put the crown on, it'd be the thing that'd cure his depression; that way, he'll be continuing the legacy of the kingdom, and he'll be reigning over the kingdom in the name of Arthur. He was still undecided, though, because it was such a giant decision to make. It also put question marks on whether or not they'll return to the swamp, as they planned on doing so earlier today.

"Think about it, also, Shrek..." another knight had said, "you and Fiona are the only ones who're properly in line for it. What we're saying, is that basically, you two are the only viable heirs remaining, and if Shrek doesn't take it, this kingdom will more or less be forced to...I don't know...it's a crucial moment in our history, Shrek..."

"Hunny, Arthur would want you to do this..."

The knights had all stood up, and one of the upper ones, joining the group walking towards Shrek, had gently carried the pillow with the crown. When Shrek turned around to see it, he still wasn't sure. As he thought about it, with the knights all waiting for his decision, he came to a conclusion in his head; why not? why should he refuse to take the crown just because he's an orge? plus, what Lillian and Fiona had said just now rung true bells; Arthur would want Shrek to become king if anything bad had happened to him, and this could be the cure to Shrek's depression. He slowly walked forwards to the pillow, just staring at the golden, glorious sight of the crown, before he slowly placed his green orge hands around it. Upon holding it, he slowly ascended it upwards and it surprisingly had a perfect, stable fit on his green head; the entire room was filled with clapping from everybody; Shrek was now the King of Far-Far-away, alongside Fiona.

"We hope to serve you well..." the knight with the pillow said, holding his hand out to shake Shrek's one, "your majesty..."

It sent chills up Shrek's spine to hear those words, 'your majesty', be spoken towards him. He was an official king, and honestly? just having the crown on had already made him feel ten times as better. Lillian had clapped, and Donkey and Puss had also cheered for Shrek. Shrek slowly shook the hand of the knight who handed him the crown, smiling. Shrek and Fiona had both ducked down to pick up Felicia, Fergus, and Farkle, as the atmosphere was lifted up completely from the depressing one it was prior. Not only did Shrek feel better, he also felt accomplished; by becoming king, he can now serve the kingdom in the memory of Arthur. Fiona and Shrek had kissed each other in the midst of the clapping, celebrating their new royalty status.

It was beautiful. Shrek was obviously going to eventually change his clothing, so he'd look more like a king, but for now, just having the crown on by itself was already astonishing to see; an orge as king? that's not bad, that's fascinating, unique, and most importantly, it spits right into the dead face of Charming, in that he initially wanted to become king of Far-Far-away, and now, the orge he's despised is now the king. It was a beautiful sight to see.

After an hour, the entire kingdom was gathered around the courtyard, knowing that they've got a new king. Upon seeing the knights march out from the castle doors, in which the red carpet was always starting from there, the citizens all cheered, and when Shrek's green body stepped out, they continued to clap; not a single person had reacted negatively, and that was only further evidence that Charming's so-called supporters had given up already. When Pinocchio, Dragon, Three Little Pigs, Gingy, had seen Shrek in a king manner, alongside Fiona, as the newly-crowned queen of Far-Far-away, they were all shocked; seeing their friend become the king of a major kingdom, one he was destined to become king in eventually, was an emotional sight, and Shrek and Fiona couldn't keep their tears of joy away already.

The citizens had all silenced themselves, as Fergus, Farkle and Felicia had stopped besides their royal parents. Shrek went up to the podium, to look across the citizens in the courtyard; it was surreal, and although he felt like he had a whole new load of pressure on his hands, there was a key element that stood out; he feels HAPPY, ACCOMPLISHED, and most importantly, like he's finally doing what Arthur would've wanted, and those three elements completely eliminated the horrific and depressing thoughts caused from Charming's actions.

"As an orge...I hope I won't cause any controversy, but I need to address the one thing we've all been thinking about...I'm...I'm so grateful for all of you...my life has became ten times better, and it is my goal to serve whilst admiring everything Arthur had done, and in turn, accomplished. We all live in his name, but as king, I hope to repeat the legacy he's left...forget the past, and like I always say, the past is better out than in..." Shrek said, "and I've got the best friends and family in the world to help me...thank you for this...I hope to serve as your king in a way where you'll see me just as valuable as Arthur and the rest...god bless you all, and let's get to work!" Shrek exclaimed, generating a gigantic collection of cheers and claps.

Dragon was amongst the ones who clapped, as was Pinocchio, and the rest of Shrek's friends. Shrek had a bunch of knights by his side, just guarding him, as he moved back to the side of Fiona to embrace the cheering atmosphere; just getting treated like a valuable figure was surreal. Shrek and Fiona held hands, and then proceeded to duck down and pick up their three kids. Shrek had more tears in his eyes, and Fiona had them too; the two of them were overwhelmed with joy as their lives had suddenly took a turn for the best; Shrek can be king knowing he's doing what Arthur would want, and now, there's not a single threat that can harm their lives ever again. Shrek kissed Felicia, as they all laughed in joy.

With Shrek and his family now within the royalty of Far-Far-away, perhaps now is the best time to address one major thing; all of Shrek's foes in the past? they all aimed to be king, and what made this moment so much more satisfying was that Shrek was now a king; the outcome his foes, especially Charming and Godmother, would've despised. Don't let people from the past bring you down, but instead, overcome their ruthlessness, and in the end, you'll be the one to win. In terms of Shrek, he's overcame FOUR, well, three foes to get to this point, and with two of them coming back. Three because in the end, Rumpelstiltskin ended up changing in order to save Felicia, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he too wanted to kill Shrek at one point, and arguably came close to doing it before Charming re-emerged.

But what would Far-Far-away look like after some months with Shrek and Fiona reigning over it?


	50. Epilogue

**CHAPTER 50: Epilogue**

Shrek found life as king much more complex than he initially expected, like one big puzzle that he couldn't solve. Nonetheless, he eventually settled in, as did his kids. Fiona, reigning as queen over the kingdom, also got set into the position. At this point, life felt refreshed; gone were the depressing thoughts due to Charming, and in their place was a sense of relaxation. He was able to comfortably take strolls across the kingdom, along with Fiona, getting to know all of the citizens. It still felt surreal to him though that he was no longer an orge living in a swamp covered with toadstools, but now, a king in a wealthy kingdom in the intent of reigning in the name of Arthur. Shrek would occasionally recall everything that Arthur had said to him, and it made him emotional, but at the same time, he was proud to be serving for the kingdom that that kid did a good job in before he was killed.

Shrek's personality had brightened for the better, ever since he became king. He realized that he'd have to be less of the grumpy type, and more of the open type, and that was something he managed to accomplish about a month into the position as king. As of now, it's been over five months, and the kingdom was still doing well. In fact, there was buzz roaming across the place due to an orge being the king. However, there were occasions where it looked as if some citizens were rallying up to build a 'political party' in order to try and rid Shrek as king, but in the end, the plan fell apart. Speaking of rallies, one person that Shrek had never forgot about was the man who, without a doubt, ended up being Shrek's most extreme foe: Prince Charming.

Shrek didn't believe in anything Charming stood for; dictatorship, evilness, and most importantly, vindictiveness. This meant that he had allowed those who perhaps still had support for Charming to voice it out openly. He believed in allowing everybody to have a free voice, one where they won't be scared of being shut down. As long as a physical threat wasn't posed with it, then it was completely normal under Shrek's reign. But in regards to Charming, every time Shrek had thought about him, he no longer felt depressed, but instead, he'd let off a chuckle.

Why? because the orge knew for a FACT that Charming didn't want this outcome to become a reality; Shrek himself as king, and now that it's happened, Shrek thought of it as a sort of 'spit in the face' type of thing, where he can explicitly claim that he's 'defied' Charming in the plan the son of Fairy Godmother had tried to accomplish whilst he was still alive. Anything negative based about Charming made Shrek feel better, honestly. It only made it better for him to recall that he was the one to give Charming the ultimate end he had been deserving of. And it did, after all, look like his threat was truly eradicated; all of those people who worked for him in his re-emergence were nowhere to be seen, so clearly, there's no longer a threat full stop.

Dragon, appreciating Shrek's accomplishment of becoming king, had eventually helped out; Shrek never forgot about the state that Duloc was left in after they cleared it out of Charming's men. At one point, she flew back there, and it was surprisingly the case that some of the citizens had returned, even though it was now an abandoned place with no government. In order to make the people of Duloc get a head-start again, after suffering the deadly wrath of Charming, Shrek had requested that Dragon, along with Donkey of course, take as many of the Duloc citizens back to Far-Far-away, and it'd be an understatement to say that they were delighted. They never knew Far-Far-away existed, and it made them eradicate all of those horrid images of Charming shooting people with his crossbow when he invaded Duloc with his knights, to take over it. Not only were they given a new life, it was also Shrek's first main act as king, and it was a generous gesture.

As for Duloc itself, nothing much could be done to it. In the end, it was a kingdom that was once ruled by Farquaad, before becoming a democracy, before being taken over by Charming some months later. The amount of switching in governments (you can't really call Charming's takeover a government, though) had created instability in the place, and especially after Far-Far-away's knights, alongside Arthur and Shrek, did a clearing out of the dictatorship from Charming. It was saddening, really. Shrek hasn't thought about it yet, but there could be the possibility, with Dragon's help in terms of transportation, to make Duloc an active kingdom again, but that would mean setting up a government, and eventually, leaving that government to fend for itself. It might go well, it might go badly, but it's worth a shot, should Shrek go for that route.

Nobody knows what truly happened to Twart and Blay, the two guys Shrek met at the abandoned village when he was just starting to acknowledge that Charming was back on the rise. All that's known is that they were captured by Charming's forces, and presumably, given their deaths. They were good guys, too.

Shrek's new clothing completely contrasted his old orge clothing. Remember when he tried to put on a royalty-looking set of clothing, with Fiona, that made him unable to move, practically at all, because of how tight it was? he was in one of those, but obviously this time, it was one that was the perfect size for him. It was a coat of red, glittered within the golden color, with the shoulder pads having white, thick layers to them. The crown had a stable spot on his head, as its shines had reflected royalty and a sense of importance. Shrek, honestly, felt much better in himself for having a change of style, and one that'll be permanent with him for as long as he'll be king.

Shrek had ended up at the Far-Far-away graveyard; he'd occasionally come here to pay his respects to Arthur, and also, the little pond that Harold's coffin was floating on, too.

Ensuring that his royal cape was off the ground as he walked to avoid falling, Shrek walked over to the distinguishable grave of Arthur's, as it seemed to still be in perfect shape despite the recent weather. He smiled at the grave, and just stood there, looking at all of the pots of roses that've been placed onto it. As he did this, the newly crowned queen of the kingdom, Fiona, had emerged from the castle too. It was just getting to night time, so that meant that they had put Felicia, Fergus and Farkle to bed in order to come outside here.

"Shrek, I'm sure he's got a smile on his face..." she said, standing besides Shrek as the two of them looked at the grave.

"I'd like to think so, myself, Fiona. You know what? I think it would've been the biggest mistake of my life to have not taken the crown. It feels like every day is fresh, and...I just experience delight every time, when I meet the citizens...just imagine what he'd be thinking if he was alive, and had seen us as king and queen?"

"I know, Shrek. Listen, I know it's not been easy..." Fiona said, holding onto Shrek's hand, "but we're in this together...our kingdom's doing well, and we've got a huge future ahead of us..."

"I couldn't have done it without your permission, though, honestly.."

"Oh please, you never asked for my permission to go to Duloc when you had to, even when I feared you wouldn't make it..."

"I'll definitely make sure to never put you through that again, okay? and I won't need to; we're the king and queen of a kingdom, that's a heavy responsibility that'll keep us from doing anything like that ever again..."

They held their hands up, as they moved into each other. Upon kissing each other, the mood was enhanced, and as they stood near Arthur's grave, they became more and more inclined to do the best possible job they could do. Months on from when Shrek and Fiona were crowned king and queen, they seem to have made a start on that already. Far-Far-away truly had a unique future in its prospects.

Shrek would never forget what Rumpelstiltskin did, either. Yes, he was once a dangerous foe who nearly banished Shrek from existence, but it was remarkable enough for Shrek, that Rumpelstiltskin had even changed in the first place, to potentially give forgiveness to the little dwarf. Plus, that time that he had seen him be killed by Charming had made him want to save him, even though it was impossible. However, he was also aware that Rumpelstiltskin, if he was alive today, wouldn't be fully trustworthy, but it's a realistic point to make about him when this is said: he was perhaps, after all, less extreme than the other three in Farquaad, Charming and Godmother, only because he actually tried to save Felicia. In the end, Rumpelstiltskin became a forgotten memory for Shrek, but Felicia would occasionally bring him up as her 'little friend', and it didn't bother Shrek whenever she did that.

Far-Far-away, economically, was still stable. Shrek tried to rule over the kingdom like Arthur would, after all. The citizens themselves didn't mind having an orge as their king as long as he was a relative of the previous king, and was somebody who's been here prior, both of which Shrek's done. As mentioned, a few of the citizens on the other hand weren't happy, so they started up some political parties to try and force an election and get Shrek de-selected, but he's a king; a kingdom never usually has elections with a king, or do they? Shrek was honestly contemplating holding one for the sake of it, but that was a few months ago. Because there were no longer any citizens who were angered at Shrek being king, and thus, no more political parties rising up, that thought had been completely forgotten from his head.

With Far-Far-away in safe hands with Fiona and Shrek, and with the old Duloc citizens being taken to Far-Far-away to start a new life, Shrek was able to live with the one thing that mainly Charming wanted, as did Godmother, but for her son. However, it was only when Charming started rising up as a regime dictator that that desire was thrown out of the window. If you go back to the time that commenced Charming's revenge plan, the one where that tower was slammed with a thud over his body through the window hole, what did he say before that? 'this was supposed to be MY happily ever after!' it might just seem like a normal thing, but look closely; why did Charming rally up those villains all that time ago, whilst he was still somewhat sane with his coup over Far-Far-away? because they never had their happily ever afters.

Shrek, meanwhile, has his happily ever after, and it'll live with him for years to come as king. It is because of this, that he, can reign in victory.

And thus, Shrek's life was secure, as was his family's, alongside his friends, for many years to come.

 _ **Author's note: You people are insane. I had so much fun writing this, and it was even more fun seeing you all stick around along the way. I was honestly, at first, unsure about this story when I first started it, but it picked up for me as I advanced to the chapters where things got serious. This is also my first big story that I have written that is NOT in my main fandom, and I'm looking to expand beyond my main fandom. Hopefully it was fun to read, and feel free to keep up with my other stories if you want. Have a good day you lovely people.**_


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